Unexpected
by StayWithMeForTheKids
Summary: AU/Future fic: Rachel Berry comes home from a stressful rehearsal, only to find that someone has moved in. The only problem is she didn't advertise for a roommate.
1. Chapter 1

_"To him who is in fear everything rustles." - Sophocles_

Cut!"

Rachel rolls her eyes as her director, once again, stops the scene. She huffs and looks over at her supposedly leading man standing opposite her. Dressed in tatty blue jeans, a coffee stained white shirt and a dirty beanie covering his scruffy blonde hair, Sam Evans stands sheepishly, his eyes casted to the floor. He's completely incompetent. Well, not all the time, just now. He can't seem to get his lines right in this scene. Rachel understands why their director hired him, he's reasonably attractive, is a good singer-not the best, but good- can dance okay and his acting is, most of the time, fairly good.

The Director-Will- scratches at the back if his neck as he approaches the two of them on stage. He smiles warmly at them both before directing a tired look over at Sam "Look, Sam, I know it's been a tiring day, for all of us, but you need to try and put a bit more emotion behind your words, okay?"

Sam nods, nervously glancing up at Rachel. Rachel glares at him. Her patience for him has worn extremely thin today.

"Rachel" Will says, bringing Rachel's attention away from Sam. The director scratches at his grey beard and smiles at her. "Keep up the good work. You're doing great."

Rachel beams, looking at Sam a little smugly. Despite knowing how great-outstanding- she's been today (when is she not?) Rachel Barbara Berry is not one to turn away a compliment. "Thank you, William."

He smiles at her again and walks back over to his desk. He drops down in his chair tiredly and rubs at his eye from under his glasses. "Okay, from the top."

But, much to Rachel's annoyance, Sam did not seem to do any better after Will's pep-talk. In fact, he actually got worse. He stumbled over his lines, stumbled over his feet and one time, when he was meant to push Rachel back, he ended up tripping on his loose laces and face planted onto the stage floor.

After that happened, Will decided to let them go. When Sam left the theatre, Rachel decided now was a good time to voice some opinions to Will.

"William"

Will looks up from his brief case and adjusts his glasses upon his face "What can I do for you Rachel?" he asks.

"I'd like to talk to you about Sam" Rachel says strongly. Will nods his head and sits back down, gesturing for Rachel to continue "He's a lovely man, but he's messing this play up. He's failing to deliver his lines properly, failing to stay awake during some rehearsals and sometimes, is even turning up late. It's completely un-professional and that is definitely not what a leading man in a Broadway play is meant to be. He has to go, Will."

Will sighs and removes his glasses, placing them onto the desk "I know he does Rachel, but we're three weeks away from opening night, it will be impossible for us to find someone to replace him in time and have them learn the script, choreography and songs"

"Why not bring in an avid fan of Broadway? Then they'll know everything about it and all the plays"

"Rachel, just because someone is a fan of the play, does not mean they can act, sing, dance or know how Broadway works."

Rachel rolls her eyes and sighs unhappily "He needs to get better. If he doesn't, you're going to have to fire him, otherwise this play is going to go down the drain"

Will agrees with Rachel and stands up, putting his glasses back on "I know. But for tonight, you should just go home and unwind from this stressful day, okay?"

Rachel nods and watches as Will leaves the theatre. She shakes her head and sighs "Sam Evans, you best get your act into order"

* * *

Rachel walks out of her city car, thanking her driver and makes her way to the door of her apartment complex overlooking Manhattan. Myles, the doorman smiles at his favourite tenant and opens the door for her.

"Good evening Miss Berry, how was rehearsals?" he asks kindly

Rachel smiles at him "Just swimmingly, thank you Myles"

Myles laughs as she walk past him "That bad huh?"

Rachel's laughter is her reply. She enters the elevator and slumps against the back wall. She rubs at the muscles straining in her shoulder blade, knowing that what she really needs right now is a bubble bath.

A sigh escapes Rachel's lips when the elevator doors open and present her with her door. She fishes out her keys from her handbag and leisurely walks to the door. A chill sets over her body, however, when she notices her apartment door slightly ajar. Panic begins to rise in her and she slowly pushes the door open, checking for any sign of a forced break in.

Her eyebrows furrow together when there is no signs and walks into her apartment. She looks around, seeing nothing is different. Her coffee mug from the morning is still sat on the kitchen island, her magazines are still haphazardly thrown on her coffee table and her remote for the TV is still sitting on the arm of her couch.

But then she sees it. There's a small splatter of milk by the fridge. That wasn't there this morning. She doesn't have milk with her coffee. Nor did she put anything in the dishwasher which is now creating a gentle hum throughout the apartment.

Placing her bag and keys on the counter top, Rachel walks quietly over to her room. She gasps upon seeing clothes thrown about on her bed. Someone has been in her room and ran sacked through her clothes! Her muddy khaki jacket has been thrown haphazardly over her dresser.

Rachel pauses. These aren't her clothes. She doesn't own a khaki jacket, nor does she own black combat boots or ripped pants. Then she notices it. The soft sound of running water travels from the open door of her en-suite and steam dances its way into her room.

Someone is using her shower. Someone...is...in...her...shower. Rachel's eyes widen comically and she slowly makes her way over to the open door. She pops her head round, her eyes widening even more when she spots a shadow moving behind her golden star curtain.

When the shower turns off, Rachel decides to confront whoever this person is and moves into the bathroom. She watches as a pale hand blindly searches for her pink towel situated and few centimetres away. Rachel grabs hold of the towel and holds it out to the hand.

Rachel rolls her eyes "You're welcome"

The shadow pauses in their movements and before Rachel can blink, the shower curtain is pulled back abruptly and she's greeted with the sight of a very wet, very naked and very confused looking blonde woman.

"Who are you?" the woman asks, not showing any sign of being conscious about her naked state.

Rachel blushes as she stares at the naked body. Toned abs wink at her, before being covered up by Rachel's towel. Rachel manages to shut her mouth and redirects her gaze to the intruder.

"I'm Ra-" Rachel catches herself and shakes her head abruptly "I think the more important question is: who are you what are you doing in my home?"

The woman casually strolls past her, the scent of Rachel's lavender shower gel filling her nose.

"Why are you using my shower gel!" she demands as she quickly follows the stranger.

"You mean my shower gel?" the woman asks, turning to look at Rachel.

"No!" Rachel says, stomping her foot "I mean my shower gel, my shower, my towel and my apartment! Now take what you've come to steal and leave!"

The blonde looks at Rachel, amused by her "If I was a robber, Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to take a shower before leaving?"

"You're stupid enough to believe this to be your home. Now, go!"

The blonde smacks her lips together and cocks her hip to the side "Can't do that sweet cheeks. I live here"

Rachel gasps and places her hands on her hips, becoming increasingly impatient "You list certainly do not! I never advertised for a roommate"

"You didn't have to. You left your door unlocked"

"I most certainly did not! And What's that got to do with anything?"

Instead of answering, the blonde stranger ignores Rachel-much to Rachel's annoyance- and Instead opens Rachel's bedroom door.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to change without wondering eyes"

Rachel glares at the woman and storms to her bedroom, not wanting to see the woman naked again. Maybe.

"Fine, it's best you're changed by the time the police get here!"

"Good luck with that sweet cheeks" The blonde says, winking at Rachel before slamming Rachel's bedroom door in her face.

Rachel huffs and stomps over to her bag. She pulls out her phone and quick dials her manager. She begins to pace the floor as the phone continues to ring after the first one.

"Hello?" A sleepy voice asks through the receiver.

"Emma! It's Rachel"

Rachel listens to the shuffling in the background as Emma moves from wherever she was. Rachel doesn't seem to pick up on the fact it's quarter to midnight and that Emma was asleep.

"I know that" Emma yarns out "What's happened that's caused you to call me at eleven forty five?"

"There's someone in my house" Rachel stage whispers.

"What?"

"There's someone in my house"

"Rachel speak up I can barely hear you"

"There is someone in my home!" Rachel practically shouts. She pauses and looks to her bedroom door, signing upon seeing it's still closed.

"What do you mean?" Emma's voice appears to be more alert now.

"Someone broke into my home..." Rachel walks to the fridge and opens it. She picks up her soy milk and frowns at the lightness of the carton "Drank most of my milk, left their dirty clothes on my bed, had a shower and used my shower gel and then refused to leave"

Emma's silent for a moment. Rachel becomes aggravated at Emma's lack of response and darts her eyes between her bedroom door and her shoes.

"You're telling me that...someone broken in" Emma says slowly.

"Yes"

"By force?"

"No. It looks like they used my key to unlock the door"

"Okay" Emma trails off again. Rachel listens as Emma begins to rummage around, seemingly trying to find something "So they...basically walked into your home, had some of your food and proceeded to shower?"

"Yes" Rachel growls, rolling her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes" Emma scolds, causing Rachel's eyes to widen. How did she- "I know you well enough by now, Rach, to know when you're rolling your eyes. Rachel, this part is very important...did you lock the door when leaving this morning?"

"Of cours-" Rachel pauses. Her eyes widen as her memory tells her that she in fact, did not lock her apartment door this morning. She was running late and so was rushing. She forgot to lock it "No, I didn't"

She hears Emma sigh and scribble something down "Rach, the person who's in your house isn't a burglar or a murderer, they're a squatter"

"A what?"

"A squatter. People who enter either abandoned homes or homes not registered to anyone under state law."

"But she didn't enter an abandoned home or one not registered. My name is on the lease for this apartment!"

"I know"

"What do I do then? Throw her out?"

"No. Don't use any violence against her otherwise she can call on squatter's rights or get you done for unprovoked assault"

Rachel falls back on her couch and rubs a hand across her forehead, a yarn escaping her mouth "What can I do?"

"You either convince her to leave or you take legal action. It is illegal for squatters to occupy a registered house or property"

"What would happen to her?"

"She'd get fined a lot of money or thrown in jail"

Rachel bites her lip as her caring side starts to come out "I don't want her to be thrown in jail or have to pay money she obviously doesn't have if she has to break into homes"

"It's that or you live with a person who's using all your resources up and forces _you_ to move"

The brunette jumps when her bedroom door slams shut. She looks up and spots the woman-the squatter- exit her room. The blonde smiles warmly at Rachel, something that completely shocks Rachel, and moves to the kitchen.

"Okay" Rachel says, watching the woman begin to empty out the dishwasher. Rachel tilts her head the side, finding it very odd that the squatter is doing such a thing.

"I'll call Santana in the morning to sort out a lunch date so we can meet with her and discuss her representing you if this goes to court, which it could"

"Okay"

"And one more thing Rachel" Emma says, grabbing Rachel's attention away from the blonde putting the dishes away due to the seriousness in her voice.

"What?"

"No matter how nice she is to you, do not trust her"

"Okay" Rachel distractedly replies when the blonde bends down and the shirt she's wearing rises up to show the small of her back to Rachel. Rachel licks her lips upon seeing to dimples resting at the bottom of her back.

"Rachel, are you listening?" Emma asks, her voice becoming slightly aggravated.

"Yes"

"It's important for you to remember that, Rachel. Squatters can be sneaky"

"Hmmm"

"Don't trust her"

Rachel distractedly answers her again before saying a goodnight to her manager and switching her phone off. She slips it into her pocket and finally moves her eyes away from the blonde in the kitchen. She lifts herself off the couch and moves to her bedroom, Emma's words faintly ringing in the back of her mind.

'_Don't trust her'_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I'd just like to say: Wow. I am so surprised by the amount of responses this story has gained and how many of you are interested! Thank you all so much for your reviews! I loved them all.**

**Anyway, I thought I'd treat you guys to another chapter before I update my other stories because of your response!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty." - Mother Teresa_

"You're late." Emma says as soon as Rachel sits down with her coffee. Rachel nods at her manager and holds up her hand, indicating five minutes. When she looks at Emma, guilt immediately hits the petite brunette and she looks down at her feet in shame.

Rachel's always been a punctual being. Never a minute late to anything, be it be an audition, a class, a day out with friends or even her morning moisturising ritual. But today, for the first time in her life, Rachel was late. Why? Because of the blonde intruder currently residing in her home.

"I know." Rachel sighs, sliding into the seat beside Emma. "The squatter decided it would be fun to spend two hours in the bathroom"

Emma makes a sound of disgust in her throat and takes a sip of her coffee. "Bloody Squatters."

Rachel tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and bites on her bottom lip nervously as she thinks back to the blonde in her apartment. She doesn't look like a squatter, her hair isn't stuffy- in fact, it's rather well kept- her clothes are clean and she has got quite good manners. Not that Rachel knows what a squatter should look like; she didn't even know what they were twelve hours ago.

"Someone has gots to tell me why the hell I am up so bloody early on a Saturday morning!" A very tired looking Santana Lopez storms up to their table and slams her coffee down onto the table, causing some of its contests to spill over the edge and land on Rachel's hand.

Rachel hisses at the heat and quickly retracts her hand, furiously rubbing the hot liquid off of her hand. Rachel's eyes travel over the Latina's attire, shocked to see her dressed so smartly. She knows that Santana's line of job requires her to dress so smartly, but Rachel has never seen her dressed for work before. A tight black pencil skirt shapes her hips nicely with a white business shirt is tucked into the skirt's waistband with a black blazer thrown over the shirt. Despite the slouched posture of the Latina, her eyes look alert and ready.

"How's Brittany and Jessica?" Rachel asks, not wanting to get to the point straight away.

Rachel remembers the day when she first met Jessica. Brittany had just gone through twelve hours of labor, she was exhausted and very sweaty, but in her arms was a beautiful seven and half pound baby girl. Rachel could tell by looking at Santana and Brittany that the two brand new mothers had never felt so much love for one person before their little girl came into their lives.

"Britt's good, she's gone back to teaching the dance classes. Jessica's now crawling, we think it might be a few weeks until she's walking!" Santana says, becoming excited as she talks about her baby girl. "She's so smart for a one and a half year old."

"I bet she'll be dancing soon enough." Rachel replies fondly.

Santana nods. "Yeah, with Britt being her Mum and you being her Aunt, there's no way she can get out of dancing." Santana pauses and takes a sip of her coffee. "So, what is so important that I am currently not in bed sleeping with my wife and my daughter?"

Emma clears her throat and leans forward. Rachel eyes follow Santana's hands as they place a black brief case onto the table. "Rachel has a squatter living in her house."

Santana's eyebrows rise in shock and she turns to Rachel, tilting her head in question. Rachel narrows her eyes when she notices the tiniest of smirks hidden at the corner of Santana's lips. "Is that so?" the Latina asks.

Rachel nods stiffly and takes a sip of her coffee. "I left my front door un-locked."

Santana's eyes dart to Emma briefly before boring into Rachel again. No matter how friendly the two had gotten after High School and how close they are, Rachel always feels a shiver travel down her spine whenever Santana stares at her. She's just waiting the moment one of her old, hurtful nicknames will pass her lips again.

Santana nods and says nothing more on the matter of Rachel's careless-ness, allowing Rachel to take a sigh of relief. She knows the Latina is taking great delight in the fact that Rachel 'I-must-check-everything-twice-before-leaving' Berry had forgotten to lock her front door.

"First thing's first" Santana says, her voice taking on one of a professional. "Have you called the police?" She looks back at Rachel, her gaze nothing but professional.

Rachel shakes her head, her fingers tapping against the side of her cup. "Emma informed me not to because of-"

"Squatters Rights." Emma finishes for her.

The lawyer sighs and shakes her head. "Do you two know what Squatters Rights mean?" Upon receiving two blank faces, Santana carries on "It allows them to stay in a abandoned home or un-registered residential building without having the law involved."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Emma asks, slipping into manager mode.

"That whoever this Squatter is, isn't squatting in Rachel's home, they're trespassing. Rachel's name is on the lease, the state knows she owns that home and she actually lives there. Despite Rachel leaving her front door unlocked, the squatter has no rights to living in that home. If you had called the police, they would have been there in ten minutes and she'd be out of your life.."

Rachel's eyebrows furrow together as her finger runs round the rim of her cup. She tilts her head to the side. "So...if I had ignored Emma...We could have avoided this whole meeting?"

"Yes" Rachel glares at Emma who shrinks back in her seat, trying to hide behind her coffee cup "She would have either been fined a few thousand dollars or thrown in jail, it depends on how resistant she is."

Rachel leans back in her chair and folds her arm across her chest, still glaring at Emma who looks extremely sheepish. "I'll call them now." Rachel says, moving to grab her phone, only to have Santana's hand stop her.

"No. Give the squatter a choice like any human being. She can either leave without you getting the police involved, or you can call the police and have her escorted from the building, humiliating her in the process."

Santana's hand retracts from Rachel's phone. Rachel glances between her phone and Santana's serious expression. Her fingers tap her phone case as she decides on what to do, if she should listen to Santana, or not. She looks at Emma who shrugs helplessly and gets up from the table to throw her coffee cup away.

Rachel thinks back to the blonde currently sitting in her apartment. The woman had made Rachel breakfast, which, although it was bacon and eggs, did make Rachel very happy to have someone to make her breakfast.

But then the blonde decided to steal the shower and bathroom for two hours.

However when Rachel had emerged from her shower after being granted the bathroom once again, a selection of her clothes was laid out on her bed, ready for her to put on. When she walked into the main living area, she had noticed that the plate of her breakfast was gone and the sound of the dishwasher was playing through the apartment. The woman had even called out a goodbye to Rachel and included a warm smile in her goodbye.

The goodbye had shifted something inside of Rachel. It had caused something inside Rachel shrink in size a little. It made her feel happy.

But then the words Emma had said to her last night pound in Rachel's mind, constantly reminding her to look past all these facts.

"_Don't trust her"_

Does Rachel really want to offer the blonde the chance to go without a criminal record, or not give her the option? A woman who had been nice to her?

"Rachel!"

Rachel sighs at the sound of her boss calling her and gets up. She ties her hair up with the hair tie wrapped round her wrist and smiles sadly at her manager and close friend. "I've got to go, duty calls." Rachel says, grabbing Santana's cup.

"Why don't you quit? You've got the job on Broadway." Santana says, falling out of work mode and into friend mode.

Rachel grabs a tray and moves to the table next to them, collecting the empty mugs and placing them upon the tray with Santana's. "Because I'm not being paid until the opening night. I still need this job until then"

Santana nods "Have fun, shortie." She says with a teasing smirk.

Rachel swats Santana's head and runs away, laughing at Santana shouting at her.

* * *

"You have three hours"

Rachel slams the door shut behind her and marches over to where the blonde is reclined on the couch, watching a re-run of Tom and Jerry.

A pale hand picks up the remote and pauses the aggressive cat and mouse chase scene on the screen. "What?" The blonde doesn't lift her head, but merely turns her eyes away from the screen to look at Rachel.

"You have three hours to pack your stuff and leave." Rachel states, placing her hands on her hips.

The blonde's eyes squint at Rachel as she slowly rises from the soft cushions on the couch and makes her way towards Rachel. Rachel watches her every move, remembering to stand tall (as tall as she can be) and strong.

"Why would I do that?" The blonde asks, tilting her head to the side as she stops a couple of inches in front of Rachel.

"If you don't." Rachel pulls out her phone and taps in 911 into the keypad. "I'll call the police."

A smirk appears on the woman's lips and she takes a step towards Rachel. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Oh? And why not?"

"Squatters Rights."

A smirk identical to the blonde's appears on Rachel's face. Rachel mentally cheers when the blonde's smirk falls and apprehension replaces it on the woman's face upon seeing Rachel's confidence. Rachel clears her throat and cocks her hip to the side.

"We'll see about that. Now, three hours. Not a minute longer."

With that, Rachel saunters off into her room, leaving the awe struck blonde behind her.

Rachel throws her jacket onto her bed and walks over to her desk. She slides into her seat and switches on her laptop, waiting impatiently as it boots itself to life. With a few clicks, Rachel's scanning through her emails, deleting junk mail from sites she's never heard of before. Rachel pauses when she spots an email from a company Rachel knows she's never signed up to before, let alone even thought about searching them.

_'lez-dates'_

Rachel furrows her eyebrows together and clicks on the email, her eyes widening at the image of two girls kissing at the top left hand corner of the page. She shakes it off and reads the message written to her.

"_Dear Miss Rachel Barbra Berry,_

_Thank you for signing up to our online, lesbian dating site. Please click the link below to confirm that 'largelungedBerry' is your username._

_We hope you find the lesbian of your dreams._

_Lezdatez staff."_

Rachel's eyes widen in horror and she quickly clicks onto the link provided. Her eyes flicker to her bedroom door as the page opens up in her browser. She hopes that the woman won't decide to walk in right now.

Whilst panicking and trying to click on the links, Rachel accidently clicks onto an advert on the side, causing a lesbian porn sight to pop up. Soon, loud moans play out from Rachel's laptop.

Upon hearing footsteps, Rachel's panic hits a whole new level. She tries to quickly close down the browser, but only ends up clicking on the advert again and causing more moans to sound out from her laptop.

As soon as her bedroom door opens, Rachel quickly closes her laptop screen, however, unfortunate to Rachel, her hand got in the way and so the sounds continue to play without the computer locking. Rachel pretends to act nonchalant when a blonde head pokes round the door with a questionable look.

"What are you doing?"

Rachel awkwardly places her arm on her desk and crosses her legs, silently hoping the blonde doesn't hear the moans sounding through the room. "Nothing. Nothing at all. I was just uh-"

"Watching porn?"

"What? No! What gave you that idea?"

Rachel winces at how fake her voice sounded and upon seeing the unconvinced look on the blonde's face. The woman moves into the room and walks over to Rachel's desk, eyeing Rachel's laptop with a smirk. Rachel gulps and looks away from the woman nervously.

"If it's nothing, can I see?"

"I-I don't think that's appropriate, I don't even know you"

The blonde rolls her eyes. "My name is Quinn, I like chocolate chip cookies and taking photos if I have the chance to buy a camera. There, you know me."

Rachel stops a smile from arriving on her face when she processed what the woman has said to her, she needs to remember to not get the blonde's-_Quinn's_, hopes up. "My laptop is a private-hey!" Rachel protests when Quinn bumps Rachel out of the way and opens the laptop screen, her gaze running over the video playing.

A blush reddens Rachel's cheeks when Quinn looks over her shoulder with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. She watches as the blonde clicks off the two pop-ups, revealing Rachel's email.

"_lez-dates_?" The blonde reads slowly.

This kicks Rachel out of her embarrassed state and she pushes Quinn out of the way, deleting the email and moving the laptop out of Quinn's line of sight. She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at the blonde.

"I think that's enough."

Quinn smiles at Rachel. Rachel bites down on her bottom lip. Once again stopping a smile from appearing on her face.

"Three hours." Rachel warns, her voice becoming cold. She's had enough of Quinn and snooping at her emails. Who knows what else the woman has been looking through whilst Rachel was gone. Her bookshelf? Her wardrobe? Her underwear draw?

The smile on the blonde's face falls and she nods stiffly "I'm not leaving."

"You have three hours to do so."

"Fine."

"Fine."

The blonde glares at Rachel for a moment before storming out of the room, leaving Rachel to continue looking at her emails. She sighs once she's done reading and decides to go on Broadway's website.

A smile graces her face when a poster for the play she's in shows on the page, with a big 'Coming Soon' spread across it. She sighs to herself. Finally, after years of working hard, proving how good she is to people and herself, Rachel is finally getting the big break she's always dreamt of. Just as long as Sam doesn't mess it up on opening night.

Rachel looks at her clock, her eyebrows rising when she notices the time. Three hours had past. Getting up, Rachel makes her way into the living and searches for Quinn. Her eyebrows furrow together when she doesn't spot any of Quinn's belongings where they were earlier, nor does she spot a single sign of the blonde woman.

She spots a note left on the kitchen counter and slowly reads it, her eyes travelling over the neat handwriting with precision.

"_Dear Miss-who-let-me-stay-in-your-home-for-twelve-hours ,_

_I'm grateful that you didn't call the police as soon as you saw me-I really needed a shower. I'm sorry for being nosy and looking at your laptop screen. And looking in your wardrobe...and underwear draw-nice star panties by the way- I had no right to. I had no right to even enter your home, I know that very well. Your home was the first I came to that was unlocked and like I said, I __really__ needed a shower. _

_I hope we meet again someday, and hopefully, if I am able to get back on my feet, it will be in very different circumstances._

_Thank you for giving me a chance to leave without any hassle._

_Quinn_

_X"_

Rachel's finger traces the tiny 'x' drawn underneath the woman's name. She continues to re-read the letter for the better half of an hour before finally folding it up and walking to her room. She gently places it in her bedside cabinet before walking to grab her coat, readying herself for rehearsals.

As Rachel leaves the apartement, making sure to lock her door, she can't help but notice that the something that shrank inside of Rachel earlier, has now grown to it's original size. She also notices that this something has always been inside her, growing more and more as the days passed by in her life. What is this something?

It's loneliness.

* * *

**There's the chapter guys! I hope you all enjoyed it! I know I had fun writing certain parts.**

**Thank you for taking the time to read it!**

**xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am so sorry for the late update guys. I got caught up in a lot of College work. I have to turn in all my graphics by next Wednesday so I've been focusing on that for the past few weeks. But, have no worries because I got this chapter done for you! YAY! Some of my other stories I haven't even started the next chapter!**

**So many of you requested for there to be a time skip and so that is what I have granted! It's a two year time skip.**

**Anyway, thank you all so much for the reviews! I loved them all and I cherish them greatly! I'm so blown away by your comments!**

**On with ze chapter!**

* * *

_"They say when you are missing someone that they are probably feeling the same, but I don't think it's possible for you to miss me as much as I'm missing you right now"- Edna St. Vincent Millay_

Rachel huffs in annoyance as hands flittered about her face, caking her complexion in makeup and other cosmetics. She hisses when one of the stylists pulls particularly hard at her hair as he tries to get it into the right shape. She hears a soft apology from the man and waves it off, informing him that it's okay.

Her hand moves from their place on her lap to the pocket of her dressing gown where a very creased piece of paper lies. Her fingers run over the folded edge and she takes a deep breath, calming her nerves. She takes her hand out of the pocket and places back on her lap.

"Let's run through it one more time." Emma says, swatting away the makeup stylists and situating herself in front of Rachel.

The brunette groans, earning a glare from Emma. "We've already gone through it, Ems."

The dirty blonde nods her head. "I know. But I need to make sure you have it correct."

Rubbing a finger against her eyebrow, Rachel nods, her eyes casted at her feet.

"What do you say if the interviewer mentions the rumour of you moving onto movie and TV?"

"Broadway will always be my home."

"Correct." Emma smiles and switches the cards in her hands. She nods to herself then leans forward on her elbows. "What do you say if the interviewer mentions the rumours of you and Sam dating?"

"All I can say is that I'm really happy right now." Rachel says in a bored tone.

Emma rolls her eyes and sits back. "Geez, be a little more enthusiastic, Rach."

"How can I be enthusiastic about a lie! I'm feeling the complete opposite of happy right now, Emma."

"So you're not happy? Then act it. That is your job after all!"

"No I'm not not happy. I'm unhappy." Rachel says tiredly.

"You've got everything you've ever dreamed of! You're a Broadway star, you have rumours circulating you. What else is there?"

Rachel just stares at Emma, silently communicating what it is. Realisation dawns on Emma's face and she nods in understanding. The older woman leans forward and rests her elbows onto her knees, a soft expression taking over her usually stoic face.

"It's her, isn't it?"

Rachel only sighs and casts her eyes downward.

"Rach," Emma sighs "We've been through this. You have to let go of her. She's left, and she's never coming back."

Tears spring to Rachel's eyes. She shakily breathes in and puts her hand into her pocket, once again feeling the worn note. "I know." Rachel admits. She doesn't notice the hands in her hair leave or the other people around her leave. "There was something about her, Ems. She made me happy. I only knew her for twenty four hours, but yet she made me happy in those few hours. Then, she was gone, only leaving me a note as a reminder." Rachel carefully wipes at a fallen tear, careful to not smudge her make-up.

"It's been two years, Rach."

"I've tried to move on. I dated."

"Twice. And you were very picky about them. They only lasted two months, tops. The first one, Jo, you dumped her because her eyes weren't green enough. The second, Alice was it?"

Rachel nods.

"Alice apparently didn't have husky enough voice."

"So?"

"These two girls all resembled the Squatter in some way, Rachel. But you stopped dating them because they weren't her. You're still hung up on her."

"Quinn. Her name is Quinn."

Before Emma can respond, the interviewers PA comes up to the two of them, saying that if Rachel's ready, they'd like to start now.

Rachel and Emma share a look before Rachel nods and gets up from the chair, leaving the robe over the back of it.

* * *

Rachel stares blankly outside the window, watching the busy streets of New York. Her eyes follow the pedestrians as they go about their day. A man in a suit rushes by with a brief case and coffee in hand, almost tripping over a little old woman who's taking her little old dog for a walk. Couples merrily walk down the streets, their arms swinging between them. Children run about, happily looking into the shop windows and pointing excitedly. Youths ride down the street on their skateboard, almost tripping up some of the adults trying to get to work.

Not one of them is who Rachel is looking for. She's hoping to see at least one thing. Maybe a flash of blonde hair, or spot a woman with long purposeful strides. Every day she stands at her window, dressing gown wrapped round her tired body and a cup of steaming coffee (with soy milk, of course) resting in her hands and tries to see the woman who had been on her mind for two years.

Every day she does this. And every day, she never sees her.

It's the same for when Rachel goes out. With her hand tucked in Sam's ("For the rumours" Emma always says) her eyes always survey they crowd. Any flash of a camera, Rachel whips her eyes round, hoping to see familiar blonde hair. But when her eyes settle on the paparazzi trying to subtly hide behind poles and bushes, Rachel's shoulders deflate a little and a sad sigh escapes her lips. Every time she does this, Sam smiles sadly at her and squeezes her hand in reassurance.

Sam was the first one she told about the note. He was the first one she confided in when she revealed she misses her squatter. He was the one to figure out Rachel's growing love for a woman she only knew for a few hours. He was the only one to make sense of it and not tell her to get over it. He's the only one who sometimes helps her with trying to find the woman. Sam is the one to sit beside her as she types in "Quinn photographer" into Google, only to find fan art of Harley Quinn with a camera. He's the one who holds her as she stares blankly at a wall.

It shocked Rachel when she started seeing Sam more than just a incompetent colleague and more as a friend. It helped when Sam had approached her and asked if she could help him with his performance. Obviously, in a very Rachel-like matter, she gallantly accepted. From there, their friendship only grew. Sam got much better and when it came to opening night, and well...the show was a hit. Now, two years later, both Rachel and Sam are well known on Broadway and have been offered more roles.

A soft smile comes to Rachel's face when she hears the door to her apartment open and close and the sound of Sam's heavy footsteps against her wooden flooring.

"You're still not dressed?" Sam asks, dumping his coat on a nearby chair before flopping down onto Rachel's settee.

Rachel slowly turns away from the window and takes a sip of her coffee. "Is there somewhere we need to be?" She asks, ruffling Sam's hair as she walks past him to the kitchen.

"Yeah." Sam grabs the TV remote and turns on the TV, flipping to the channel with the cartoons. "Artie and Emma have arranged a cafe date for us and we need to be there soon, the paps are already waiting."

Rachel tips the rest of her coffee down the sink. When she turns round, she freezes. The scene in front of her resembles one she remembers so very clearly two years ago. A blonde head is seen over the settee whilst Tom and Jerry plays on the screen. Sam pauses the violent scene in front of him and slowly turns round at Rachel's lack of response.

"Rach?" He says, slowly getting up from the settee.

Rachel shakes herself out of whatever state she got herself into and smiles sadly at Sam. "I don't understand why we have to do all of this." Rachel says, resting against the counter.

"I don't either." Sam replies, leaning next to Rachel. "Artie says it's about the publicity we'll give to the play. But I don't understand why we're doing it for the old play. Neither of us are in it anymore. I mean, I'm going to play Enjoras in Les Mis and you're already looking into TV and movies."

Rachel smiles at Sam. "More money, I'm guessing."

Sam shrugs. "Well, let's not just sit here, we have a free breakfast awaiting us." He grabs hold of Rachel's hand and spins her away from the counter and towards her bedroom. "Go get ready." He says, kicking her bum and earning a laugh from Rachel.

* * *

"She's not here, Rach." Sam says, placing a fake smile on his, knowing that the paparazzi are watching them.

Rachel places her fork onto her plate and takes her eyes away from a blonde woman she had been watching, hoping it was Quinn. "I know." She sighs. "I can't help but hope."

Sam nods and cuts a piece of his pancake off, holding it up to Rachel. He made sure to get vegan so they could create this scene for the cameras. Rachel smiles sweetly at him and leans forward, taking the pancake into her mouth before pulling back and swallowing.

"I know you can't. I understand why you are constantly looking for her. I do the same."

"You look for Quinn?" Rachel asks, leaning forward in her seat.

Sam smiles and shakes his head at his friend. "No. But I do constantly look for someone."

Interest peaks up in Rachel. She places her fork down on her empty plate and leans in, ergerly looking at Sam. "Who?"

"This girl I knew in high school. She was like you, had an amazing voice and was a total diva when she wanted to. And like you, she had a great love for something...Tater tots."

Rachel laughs. "What was her name?"

A distant look crosses over Sam's face. Rachel can tell he's thinking about this girl because his smile becomes bigger, his eyes glimmer with happiness but also a hint of sadness too. Sam shakes his head and looks back at Rachel with a smile.

"Mercedes."

Rachel smiles softly at her friend, her grin widens when she notice the slight blush on Sam's cheek. "Where is she now?"

"L.A. I haven't seen her in years. But I always hope that I'll see her here. Every time I go somewhere that serves tater tots, I look around for her. Every time I hear music by Beyonce or Aretha Franklin, I look for her." Sam finally finishes his pancakes and leans back in his chair. He studies Rachel carefully as she goes back to looking round the room.

"We should go out tonight." He says.

"What?"

"You, Me, Santana and Brittany. We should all go out to a club and have fun. No paparazzi following us, we won't have Artie and Emma breathing down our necks and it can give us a chance to drown in our sorrows and try and get over Mercedes and Quinn."

"It's-"

"I know, it's not that easy." Sam rolls his eyes with a smile. "But at least if we do that, we both know we've tried."

Rachel bites her lip and looks out the window. Her eyes widen when she spots a figure with blonde hair walking down the street. She leans forward in her seat, desperately trying to see past the paparazzi's head. Growling in frustration, Rachel gets up from her seat in the cafe and runs outside, ignoring the flashing cameras. She peers down the street at the figure, her heart pounds heavily in her chest.

"Rach!" She hears Sam call out.

Rachel prays for the woman to turn around.

Please turn around, please turn around.

Rachel's breath hitches when the woman begins to turn in order to cross the street. She feels herself lift up onto the balls of her feet. Her heart is almost breaking out of her ribcage with its violent actions.

The woman's face comes into view. As soon as Rachel sees the woman's nose, her shoulders deflate and her excitement flows away. The woman's nose isn't Quinn's. Quinn's was perfect.

"Rachel."

The brunette feels a gentle hand on her shoulder. As soon as Sam's scent falls on her, Rachel turns around and pulls Sam into a hug.

"I want to go out tonight." She mumbles into his shoulder as he holds her.

* * *

"What were you thinking!" Emma screeches as she storms into Rachel's apartment the next day.

Rachel groans at the noise and rubs at the bridge of her nose. Her head is pounding and the light in the apartment is so bright it feels like it's burning her retina's.

"What?" Rachel's head spins as she pushes herself up from her settee. She looks around in a daze, wondering how she got here.

She thinks back to last night. She, Sam, Santana and Brittany (Or 'Brittana' as Sam so nicely dubbed them) were having a blast in the night club. They hadn't run into any paparazzi or unwanted fans. Any thought of the blonde squatter flew straight out Rachel's mind as soon as she downed her fifth shot of tequila. She remembers dancing, gyrating bodies, Sam holding her hair she puked on the sidewalk and then...nothing. Everything is black after that.

"This!" Emma shouts, not even a bit sympathetic for her client as she slams a newspaper down onto the table.

Rachel blearily stares at the news paper, trying to focus her eyes on the photo and headline.

Once adjusted, Rachel notices a photo of her puking on the sidewalk is on the front page, with the heading **"Broadway starlet out for a crazy weekend!" **another photo shows her pushing away Sam as he tried to help her walk, with a sub heading of: **"Trouble in Paradise?".**

"Oh god" Rachel groans. Flashbacks come back to her. Sam had tried to help her home but she refused, shouting out the odd profanity here and there.

"That's not the worst part." Emma growls. "Read it." She says, pointing to the main part of the article.

"_Broadway starlet, Rachel Berry was seen out drinking last night with her co-star and rumoured boyfriend Sam Evans and a few friends. Eye witnesses claim they saw Miss Berry fall over on the sidewalk multiple times and others report on seeing her kiss a few other customers in the new New York hotspot. A few also report to hearing Miss Berry shout about a unnamed blonde woman as Mr Evans had attempted to take her home. Has the stress of Broadway already become too much for this young actress or has the pressure of a real relationship over taken her?"_ Rachel reads.

"Shit." The diva says, rubbing at her forehead.

"Yeah." Emma says, snatching the new paper off of Rachel. "Do you know how hard this is going to be for Artie and I to explain! We're going to have to pay off a lot of people so they keep their mouths shut and retract their statements. What in God's name where you thinking last night?"

"Shush, please don't shout." Rachel pleads as the pounding in her head only seems to pound harder with each word that leaves Emma's mouth.

"I will shout as much as I want Rachel! Artie and I have tried so hard to get these rumours of you and Sam out and in one night, you go and take a crap on them!"

"I don't care."

"Well you should."

"Why? It's not going to help my career in anyway. It's not going to persuade people to watch Sam in Les Mis or me in any T.V Show or Film I do. All it's doing is putting more money into your pocket!" Rachel groans and rubs at her temples. "I would understand if we were still in the play together. It would make people believe the chemistry on stage is real. But we're not."

Emma's posture softens and she sits down beside Rachel. She hands the girl the bottle of water and aspirin she grabbed before coming over here. "We need to do this, Rachel. It will bring more attention to you in the media and not only give me more money, but you too."

Rachel takes a huge gulp of the water and swallows the tablets. She hands Emma back the bottle of water and gets up from the couch. "I'm going to go for a walk." She replies before walking into her room to change.

* * *

Rachel breathes in the smelly New York air as she walks down the street. The chilly October air tickles the tips of her ears and her nose. A smile pulls up on Rachel's face when a couple of little kids run past her, happily chasing each other. She smiles at who she assumes to be their mother, earning a smile back.

She wraps the coat tighter around her body as the wind blows the already chilly air around her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Rachel pulls out a familiar note from her pocket and gently unfolds it. Her eyes scan over the words she had read over and over again, words that are probably imprinted somewhere in Rachel's mind.

Her eyes follow the neat handwriting she could probably forge if asked to, having looked at and studied it for so long. Her eyes track tears stains that had fallen from her eyes as she spent hours just re-reading the same note. A smile comes to her face as she traces the name at the end with her finger. A perfect face, sparkling hazel eyes and a playful smile pop up in her head as she reads the name.

'_Quinn'_

Rachel looks down at the ground, and puts the note back into her pocket.

She's happy she's not so famous in New York that every one notice her. It gives her time to just calmly walk round the city and feel like a normal citizen.

Don't get Rachel wrong, she loves the screaming fans and people asking for her autograph. But on days like this, times like these, Rachel just really loves being left alone. She enjoys being treated like a normal New Yorker every once in a while.

The smile on Rachel's face falls when she spots a group of preteen boys crowded in a circle around a figure on the floor. She can just about here the obscenities they're shouting at whoever is on the ground. It makes her angry that kids these days can be so horrid. She remembers when she was their age, she was too frightened to ask the ice cream man for an extra sauce. But now, they will just swear and be disrespectful right to your face and hold no remorse.

As she approaches them, she picks up on what their shouting better.

"Stupid fucking Hobo!" One of them shouts.

"Go get yourself a job you disgusting shit! Scum like you need to be thrown away!"

Anger boils within Rachel. She doesn't care if whoever they are shouting at is a Hobo, they are still a human being and deserve to be respected.

"Hey!" She shouts, getting the kids attention. They all turn their back on the person on the ground, blocking Rachel's view from them. She jogs a little to get closer to the children. Despite her short height and the obvious height difference these kids have on her, Rachel isn't intimidated. "I'll call the cops if you don't leave!" She shouts as she gets closer.

This causes the kids to scatter. Rachel keeps her eyes on them as she approaches the figure on the ground. Making sure the kids are gone, Rachel finally looks down. Her heart breaks when she sees them huddled in on themselves, their knees tucked up to their chest and face hidden in their knees.

Rachel crouches down and places a gentle hand on a shaking knee. She ignores the smell coming off the person and softly rubs their knee.

"Hey, it's okay." She coaxes. "They're gone now. They won't hurt you."

The person doesn't move, however their posture becomes more relaxed. Rachel feels the grip on the person's knees loosen slightly and sees them pulls their head away only slightly. They side glance at Rachel, but due to the lighting, Rachel is unable to see their eyes.

"I'm Rachel, what's your name?" She softly says. A smile pulls up on her face when they pull their head completely away from their knees.

However, when they look at Rachel, the smile on her face disappears almost immediately and a shocked gasp escapes Rachel's lips. Dead, familiar hazel eyes looks at her gloomily. A simple name falls from Rachel's lips. A name that has been fixed in her mind for two years.

"Quinn."

* * *

**Dun Dun Dun! Bet you guys didn't see that coming! Haha, you probably did. 'cause you all are so smart!**

**Anyway, thank you for reading.**

**Until next time!**

**xx**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm so sorry for the lateness of the update guys, I've just been caught up in a lot of work and revision as I have exams over the course of the next few weeks. I'll try to update as fast as I can.**

**Thank you all so so so much for the reviews! I'm blown away by them.**

**Just a note to the guest who sent me the prompt in the review: Please, if you wish to send me a prompt, write it in a PM so I can message you back and/or in an ask on Tumblr (but not anon) so I can message you back. I'd also have to decline your prompt as I don't feel comfortable writing what you asked me to write. I'm sorry if this angers you, but try a writer who strictly writes smut as I'm not too good on that.**

**Anyway, I hope you all like the chapter.**

* * *

_"Running away will never make you free." - Kenny Loggins._

Quinn looks around the room, making sure she has everything packed. Boots, Hat, Coat and Knap Sack. Check, check, check and check. Her eyes drift over to the kitchen and settle on the gleaming silver fridge. Licking her lips, Quinn makes her way over to the fridge as she thinks about the foods stocked inside of it. Just as she's about to open the fridge, the brunette haired woman's laughter floats from her room and enters Quinn's ears. Thinking about the woman's kindness and innocence, Quinn drops her hand from the fridge door.

She shall not steal food today. Not after how kind the woman had been to her, giving her a chance to leave before pressing charges. For Quinn to say she was shocked when the woman challenged her 'Squatters Rights' and seemed to know that Quinn had no right to them, well, Quinn would be lying. She was impressed.

Grabbing a nearby pen and paper, Quinn sits herself down and goes to write a letter. However, a very important fact stops her. She doesn't know this woman's name. She had trespassed into this woman's home, eaten her food and used her shower but had yet to know her name. Stumped and not wanting to interrupt the brunette, Quinn begins to write and uses a made up name.

Satisfied with her letter, Quinn slips off the stool and begins to make her way to the front door. She pauses and contemplates informing the brunette of her departure. She shakes her head, knowing she had said everything she could in the letter and not wanting to bother the woman, Quinn opens the door and leaves.

As soon as the chilli air hits Quinn's skin, she wraps her coat tightly round her body and takes a left, ready to walk the busy streets of New York once again.

Once again, she'll walk the streets as a stranger. She'll walk the streets as a nobody. A loner. But this doesn't bother her. This has been Quinn's life since she could remember. Running, searching, shivering.

Coping.

As night falls upon the city, Quinn decides to give her feet a rest. After about an hour of walking helplessly through New York, Quinn's feet had been begging for her to stop. Now, with the darkness looming over the city and beacon that is the moon, shining upon the concrete jungle Quinn finally sits down.

Finding a enclosed alley way, Quinn sits herself down on the cold gravel with her back against the wall and closes her eyes. She thinks back to the insanely soft sofa she had slept on the night previous and the sparkling brown eyes she wishes to see again.

When she first saw the woman, upon stepping out of her shower, first Quinn had initially been shocked. She hadn't expected for the person living in the house to come back. She assumed they went on holiday. So when she knew of someone else being in the home, she tensed up, ready to fight whoever it is off. But when she locked onto big brown eyes, Quinn felt herself soften. The eyes were confused and slightly angry.

It was adorable.

What made the woman even more adorable to Quinn was the flustered angry state Quinn got her in during their conversation and the little foot stamp the brunette had done. Quinn had to force herself to not smile.

Already, Quinn misses her. And she barely knew her.

* * *

It's getting annoying. When she first felt the poking, Quinn ignored it. But then it moved to her face. She has tried to swat it away, but it didn't stop. It's poking at her head, not stopping once. Poke, poke, poke.

'_I'm not a fucking animal'_ Quinn thinks to herself. She growls in anger, but that only causes the poking to speed up.

Now she's annoyed.

"Dude, it's moving." Quinn hears a muffled voice say from under her coat.

"I am not an 'it'." Quinn growls, moving the coat to see who it is poking at her. Her eyes settle on a well toned man with a Mohawk, who by the looks of it is the one who was poking her. The other is covered by the darkness of the night, but from what Quinn can tell, he is very tall.

"Dude, it's a girl." The tall shadow whispers, nudging the Mohawked man.

"You don't think I can see that?" The Mohawked guy whispers.

Quinn glares at the bickering men and stands up. She picks up her knapsack and hat, brushing off any gravel before placing the hat on her head and the bag on her back. She walks past the squabbling men, just wanting to get away from the two of them. She knows that from years of being on the streets and such, you should never be in a dark alley with two men.

Shivering at the memory, Quinn walks out of the alley. When a hand places itself on her arm, she spins round and slaps whoever it is who grabbed her. Quinn's eyebrows furrow together when she notices it was the Mohawked man who had grabbed hold of her arm and is now holding his cheek.

"Ow!" The Mohawked guy says, rubbing his cheek. "Man, you hit hard."

"Don't touch me." Quinn warns when the tall guy, who she can now see more clearly, walks closer to her. Her eyes drift over the tall man's face and frame.

He has a calming, dopey smile on his face and his frame is not only tall, but well built. Quinn figures he could easily pick her up with one hand. She notices his wondering eyes and takes another step backwards, becoming very cautious of this guy.

The Mohawked guy seems to notice Quinn's uneasy-ness and steps in between Quinn and the taller guy.

"Hey, we won't hurt you."

Quinn doesn't say anything. She just tenses, positions herself in a stance that allows her to run away easily if she needs to. Her eyes look out to the empty street as her hand tightens on her bag's strap.

"I promise." The Mohawked guy holds his hands up in a calm gesture. "We're like you."

His words cause Quinn to cut her gaze back to him. She bites her lip and takes another step backward.

"We're homeless."

Quinn pauses, her shoulders relax slightly. "Prove it." She says sternly, not wanting to show any sign of vulnerability to the men.

The two men share a look before walking out into a street light. Quinn notices, first of all, the sunken look on both of their faces. Shallow cheeks and hollow eyes. It's the look of people who hadn't had a proper meal in weeks. The next thing Quinn notices is their attire. Both men have scruffy, ripped jeans and a dirty shirt. Neither of them look like they've had a shower in weeks.

Once she's finished assessing them, Quinn nods tightly at both men and takes a step back. The Mohawked guy smiles brightly at her and walks forwards.

"I'm Puck." He says, holding out his hand for Quinn to shake. "This is Finn." He gestures to the taller man as Quinn shakes his hand.

"Quinn."

Puck smiles at her and runs his hand over his Mohawk. "Listen, we've got a small place that we're crashing at, if you're interested in joining us."

Quinn looks around nervously, her eyes drifting back to the alleyway she was currently sleeping in. She thinks back to the soft couch back at the brunette woman's house and how that night was the best goodnight sleep she's ever had. Quinn knows she'll never have a good night sleep such as that one again.

She looks back at the two men, who now are starting to look more like lost boys the longer Quinn stares at them. She hardly knows either of them and this could be a trap. It's either don't risk her own safety and have a crappy night sleep, or risk her safety and have an below average night sleep.

"Where is it?"

Finn bounces forward to Quinn, a giant smile on his face. "We'll show you!" He says, beginning to walk down the street. Quinn slowly follows him with Puck flanking her left. She glances at the Mohawked guy, noticing his curious eyes on her.

"You look rather clean for a girl sleeping on the streets." He says, curiousity evident in his voice.

Quinn keeps her eyes locked on Finn's back and pulls her bag closer to her body. "That's a story for when I know you better." Quinn answers as a way of an explanation.

In return, Quinn earns a heartfelt laugh from Puck who pats her on the back lightly. "I think I'm going to like you." He says, patting her back once more before dropping his arm back to his side.

"We're here!" Finn stops suddenly, causing Quinn to run into the back of him. As she stumbles back, Puck's arms wrap around her, stopping her from falling.

As soon as Quinn feels Puck's arms, Quinn jumps away, moving her body into a protective stance. Puck lifts up his hands in surrender before dropping them to his sides. Quinn nods, understanding he means no harm and moves to stand next to Finn.

Finn pulls back the cardboard door, revealing a small, den like area with two old mattresses, a bowl and a few screws lying around. Looking around the entire area, Quinn realises that the small den is between a warehouse and a shed. A fallen piece of wood acts as a makeshift roof for the place.

Quinn slowly walks in behind Finn and Puck, scrunching up her nose to the smell of damp. She remembers how the woman's house smelt. Like berries.

Finn flops himself down onto one of the mattresses and begins to play with a few toy soilders on the ground. Quinn raises an eyebrow and looks over at Puck who has situated himself on a separate mattress. Puck looks at Quinn with an expression that says 'That's a story for when _we_ know you better'.

"What do you think?" Puck asks, stretching himself out on the mattress.

"It's...nice." Quinn says, placing her coat on the floor.

"It's a shit hole." Puck deadpans. He notices Quinn going to sit on her coat and quickly gets up from his mattress. "Hey, sit on this." He says, gesturing to the old cushion.

"No, it's fine."

"I insist." Puck says. "I've been sleeping on this for days, I'll be fine not sleeping on it for one night." He explains, moving to sit down on a nearby pallet.

Quinn nods her thanks to Puck and situates herself down on the mattress. She rummages around in her bag and takes out her golden cross necklace. Holding it in her hands, Quinn presses a kiss to the cold metal before placing the necklace around her head.

"Religious, huh?"

Hazel eyes dart over to Puck who looks extremely comfortable despite the fact he's lying on wooden planks.

"Yeah. Kind of." Quinn says quietly, silently wishing Puck will allow her to sleep.

"I was Jewish."

"Was?"

Puck shrugs, a sad smile on his face. "After everything that happened to me, I just think 'why the hell would God, who loves his people so much, make my life like this?' So, I just stopped believing."

"Was it hard for you?" Quinn asks, all needs of sleep out the window.

Finn stops playing with his army figures and sits up, interested in the conversation.

Puck shrugs and lies back down, folding his arms under his head. "You get used to it." He mutters before falling asleep.

Quinn looks over at Finn who just smiles at her before also lying down. Quinn sighs softly and makes herself comfortable on the mattress. Pulling her coat up to her chin, Quinn stares at the blank wall in front of her.

She can only hope it will get better from here.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Quinn asks as she, Finn and Puck power walk their way down the city streets.

"Soup kitchen." Finn answers, looking akin to an excited puppy. Quinn can literally see his ears flopping and tail wagging happily as he begins to walk in front of her and Puck.

Puck smiles at his friend and pats Quinn on the back. "You ever been to a soup kitchen, Blondie?"

Furrowing her eyebrows at the nickname, Quinn shakes her head, her footsteps beginning to stumble into each other as she staggers to keep up with Finn and Puck.

"No? How do you get food, then?"

"I stole it."

Puck nods, coming to a stop in front of a small building. The walls of the building are chipped and old with moss growing on the side. The roof is missing a few tiles, a pile of smashed tiles is sat by the corner of the house. Donning the front of the building is a big banner that reads 'B.S. Pierce Soup Kitchen' in bright pastel colours and a small drawing of a cat at the end.

Quinn watches as homeless person after homeless person walks in and out of the building. Those entering look starved and tired, those leaving look filled and tired.

Quinn follows as Puck and Finn easily walk into the building, the smell of warm tomato soup hitting her nose. Quinn's stomach growls angrily as she watches a man walk past her with a bowl of steaming, creamy soup and some bread.

Puck laughs at Quinn's hungry expression. "Trust me," He says, guiding her to the line. "It tastes as amazing as it looks. The cook is a genius!"

The blonde only nods, looking around at all the people here. Although she's lived in New York for a long time, every day either sleeping down an alley, breaking into a car or even into an abandoned home, Quinn has never seen so many people like herself in one place at once.

And yet, despite seeing all these people and meeting Puck and Finn, Quinn's never felt more lonely in her life. She watches as men and women greet each other like old friends, as they all sit and laugh with each other whilst eating their soup. Some hug before departing into the busy city and others simply shakes hands before leaving. Even Puck and Finn seem to know people in here from the acknowledging nods, the waves and the friendly smiles they've sent to people around Quinn.

And Quinn? She receives questioning glances, curious gazes or is even blanked.

She is the outsider in this miniature world.

"Yo Britt!" Quinn hears Puck say as they reach the counter to be served.

"Hey Puck! Hey Finn." A bubbly, blue eyed, blonde woman greets from over the counter. Her eyes move to Quinn and much like most people here, she gives Quinn a curious look. But unlike the others, she also gives Quinn a bright, friendly smile.

"Britt, I'd like you to meet our new friend, Quinn. Quinn, this is Brittany, the chef and owner of the soup kitchen." Puck says.

Quinn smiles at Brittany and sticks out her hand, waiting for Brittany to shake it. However, Brittany waves the hand off and instead pulls Quinn in for a hug. Over the counter. The hug causes Quinn to accidently dip her elbow into the pot of soup sitting beside Brittany.

People behind Quinn groan in annoyance upon seeing Quinn's sleeve covered in tomato soup.

"Oh, okay." Quinn says in shock.

"It's nice to meet you." Brittany says once she pulls back and lets Quinn free.

Quinn examines her sleeve, only just noticing the soup. She groans and tries to wipe it off. "I'm so sorry." Quinn apologises to Brittany as the taller woman passes her some napkins.

Brittany only chuckles. "Don't worry about it. We've got loads more." She dips her ladle into the soup and pours some into a bowl, handing it to an eager Finn. "So, what have you boys been up to?" Brittany asks. She stretches out the next bowl to Puck.

Puck and Finn shrug. Quinn scrunches her nose up in disgust when Finn spoons some soup into his mouth and dribbles some of it out of his mouth.

"Same things, really." Puck replies. He takes the bowl from Brittany and hands it to Quinn. Both her and Brittany chuckle at Quinn's expression when she gets a whiff of the bubbling soup.

"Except you've gained another traveller." Brittany says, smiling at Quinn and handing Puck his bowl.

"We have."

"Finn." Brittany groans as Finn spills some soup down his shirt. She sighs and grabs hold of a few napkins and hands them to him. "Go clean yourself." She orders, shooing him away from the serving window.

"We best let everyone else get their food." Puck says, placing a hand on Quinn's shoulder and guiding her away.

"Puck, remember what I said last time. No fighting or you're gone. Including Quinn." Brittany calls out to him as he guides Quinn to the table Finn has situated himself at.

"Do you get into fights often?" Quinn asks, sitting herself down next to Finn.

Finn slurps at his spoon and smacks his lips together. "Occasionally." He replies, eating another spoonful of his soup.

Quinn quietly eats her soup, a very different picture to how Finn and Puck are currently eating. Despite her hunger, Quinn has never been able to get her father's rules out of her head.

'_A lady is to sit up straight at a table'_

'_Don't slurp your food! You know what happens if you slurp your food!'_

A shiver runs down Quinn's spine as her father's voice rings through her mind.

"What makes you get into those fights?"

Puck places his spoon down onto his plate and points over Quinn's shoulder. "See that guy?"

With subtlety Quinn slyly looks over her shoulder, noticing man who, for a homeless person, looks rather well kept. His hair is in perfect curls, his skin is without any imperfections and his ckothes, though a little dirty, have no rips or creases.

"What about him?"

"That's Jesse St. James." Finn says, scraping the last remains of his soup out of his bowl.

"He claims to be homeless, but I can see right through him." Puck growls. "He's too clean to be homeless. That bastard is only here for the free food. He's so stuck up and bloody self righteous you want to strangle him."

"And Puck has done, a few times." Finn's eyes drift to Quinn's half eaten soup longingly.

"Why?"

"The guy thinks that because he has been off the streets longer than us, that he's better than us. He's always talking about his time at home and how magnificent it was. I hate it. He seemed to have such a fucking perfect life, better than ours. He knows that and so he constantly finds a way to rub it in our faces. It pisses me off." Puck shoves his bowl away and angrily crosses his arms.

"If his life was so perfect, why is he here?" Quinn asks, noticing Finn eyeing up her bowl.

Puck shrugs. "No one knows. That's why I don't trust him. Everyone here knows at least a small part of everyone's stories. We all know how long we've been on the streets and why. But no one knows why he is." He pokes is spoon in the air, to the man standing behind Quinn.

"He's a jackass." Finn comments, his eyes not leaving Quinn's bowl.

Quinn rolls her eyes and pushes her bowl over to Finn, chuckling at his excited expression. He looks like a kid on Christmas day.

"So...we stay out of his way?" Quinn asks, making an 'ugh' sound when some of her spoon falls from Finn's spoon and splats onto her hand. She wipes her hand on her leg, scrunching up her face as she feels the soup soak into the denim of her jeans.

"No." Puck says, shaking his head. "He needs to stay out of _our_ way."

* * *

**So there you have it! Part of Quinn's story. Her story will continue onto the next chapter and I promise to add in some Faberry interaction at the end. But it shall be miniscule as the next chapter is mainly about Quinn.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading **

**xx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, so I finally have this chapter done a dusted for you. I'm sorry it took me so long, I was wrapped up in my exams and some personal things.**

**Thank you all so much for the reviews. In answer to a reviewer who found it hard to believe that Quinn is still homeless after two years, I hope this chapter clears this up for you. If not, then hopefully future chapters will explain it.**

**There is a lot of time jumps in this chapter and I apologize if any of you find it confusing. If you wish for anything to be cleared up, please don't hesitate to either leave it in a review and/or if you are guest reviewer to either PM me the question or ask me on Tumblr. (Link is in my Profile)**

**Anyway, enough with my ramblings!**

* * *

_"When you finally find the right person, don't ever let them go."- Anonymous._

**One year later**

_Quinn sighs happily as she leaves her studio, her camera hanging snugly from her neck. Today was a job well done. The model was excellent and she got some pretty good shots to send to the studio. Quinn begins to whistle out a tune as she walks onto the sidewalk of the concrete jungle. She smiles at passerby's, stops to take photos with fans and autographs. In the last year, Quinn has made something of herself as a photographer and is well known through the city. Also, she just so happens to be dating a star._

_Like every day after work, Quinn stops at a nearby florist and picks up a bouquet of gardenias. She makes small talk with the woman behind the till, pays her double the amount the bouquet costs and then walks the familiar route towards Broadway._

_And just like every day after work, Quinn stops on the same manhole that is situated five blocks from Broadway and five blocks from her studio, picks up her Camera and snaps a picture of the buzzing city._

_The familiar click of the lens causes a warm feeling to run down Quinn's spine and she continues her walk. The familiar butterflies flutter in her stomach as she arrives at the doors to her favourite theatre. Quinn smiles at the doorman as she passes him and skips up the familiar hallway to her star's dressing room._

_With the same excitement Quinn has every day, the blonde knocks on the dressing room. She bounces foot to foot when she hears footsteps and her favourite voice._

"_One sec!"_

_Not a moment later, the door swings open to reveal Quinn's girlfriend. A mega watt smile breaks out on her girlfriend's face._

"_For you." Quinn says, holding out the flowers to the woman._

_Brown eyes twinkle happily at her and she takes the flowers from Quinn. "Thank you, baby." She says, ushering Quinn into the dressing room as she finds a vase to put the gardenias in. "You don't have to get me flowers after every show, though."_

_Quinn shrugs and sits down on the couch. "I know. But I want to." She says shyly, taking her camera from around her neck and placing it on a nearby table._

_The brown eyed woman smiles adoringly at Quinn and walks over to the blonde. She sits down on Quinn's lap and wraps her arms around Quinn's neck. A tender kiss is placed on the blonde's lips._

"_You're too sweet."_

_Quinn beams at her and hugs the woman to her body. She buries her face in soft brown locks and inhales the familiar scent of Lavender. Quinn shuts her eyes and thinks about how lucky she is._

"_You need to open your eyes."_

"_What?" Quinn says, confused._

"_Open your eyes, Quinn."_

"_They are open."_

"_Open your eyes. We need to go."_

_The woman's voice isn't hers anymore and is, instead manly. It's familiar, but Quinn can't pin point it._

"_Come on wake up we have to go!"_

Quinn's eyes snap open. Her brain rattles about in her skull as someone roughly shakes her.

"Come on Quinn!" Quinn hears the same manly voice say before her hand is grasped and she's being pulled up to her feet.

Shaking her head from her sleepy state, Quinn recognises the Mohawk sitting on top of a man's head. Quinn stumbles over her feet as she tries to keep up with the man pulling her along. She sees a very tall guy running in front of them, looking over his shoulder rapidly. Quinn realises the mohawked guy is Puck.

Then she hears the sirens. Now she is very awake.

She lets go of Puck's hand and begins to run fast, slowly over taking Puck and catching up to the tall guy who she recognises to be Finn. She looks over her shoulder, seeing the distinct red and blue flashes of a police car. Quinn shakes her head and pumps her feet against the pavement and quickly passes Finn.

"This way!" Quinn shouts when she spots an open alley way. Quickly, all three of them turn down the alley way. Quinn comes to a stop and leans against the wall, slowing down her rapid breathing. They peer out of the alleyway, seeing the police car whizzing past along with a few policemen.

"Man that was close." Finn wheezes between his panting as he desperately tries to get his breath back.

"Yeah." Puck says, coughing heavily and slumping down onto the ground.

Quinn glares at the two men. "What happened this time?!" She asks angrily, moving to stand in front of them with her hands on her hips.

She is ashamed to admit that this is not the first time the three of them has been chased by the police. She is also ashamed to admit that she has been asleep when each chase started, which always results in either Finn or Puck waking her up.

Over the past year, Quinn has grown an odd friendship with Finn and Puck. With Puck, they always tease each other like brother and sister, with the occasional pick-up line from Puck. With Finn, Quinn became like a mother and a sister to him. It is not wrong to say that Finn looked up to Quinn, nor is it wrong to say that Quinn is the leader of this unlikely trio.

For the past year, Quinn has tried her hardest to keep these two out of trouble. She's made sure to keep Puck away from Jesse whenever they go to the soup kitchen, constantly provide Finn with some sort of food or drink whilst also trying to get them all jobs. Which, was hard considering all three of them dropped out of high school and, if they are lucky enough to get a job, they get fired by the second day because at least one of them always falls asleep on the job.

Quinn looks to Finn and raises an eyebrow at him, silently demanding him to tell her. Ever since learning about Finn's back story, Quinn has become protective of him and also become his archetypal Mother.

As it turns out with Finn, when he was young, his Dad died, leaving only him and his Mum. They struggled to get by. Carol-Finn's Mum-worked two jobs and yet she still found it difficult to buy food for Finn and herself. Carol had become increasingly depressed and Finn ended up having to take care of her from the age of 11. By the time Finn had turned 16, Carol had committed suicide and left Finn alone. Needless to say, Finn dropped out of high school and ended up on the streets.

Quinn knows what you're probably thinking: "Did no one help him?"

The answer to that question is no. The town Finn is from is very small and very shitty. If you weren't rich then you weren't important.

Due to Finn's lack of having a proper parental figure in his life, he never really grew out of his child-like behaviour. That's why he carries around army men figures and plays with them before going to bed, that's why he needs either Puck or Quinn to tuck him into the pathetic excuse they call a bed and that's why Quinn feels she needs to protect him.

"I got bored." Finn admits under Quinn's gaze. "So I went for a walk...and I may have accidently...set off the alarm..." Finn trails off and looks away from Quinn.

Quinn sighs and drops her head. "Do you remember the talk we had, Finn? When we break into a store, don't go wondering."

"I know." He says quietly. "But I couldn't sleep."

Quinn turns her head to Puck who straightens his posture a little even though he's secretly really frightened of the blonde right now. "Where were you during this?" Quinn asks harshly.

Before going to sleep, Puck had agreed to take the first watch in case someone came back to the store. Obviously, hadn't kept to that duty.

"I uh...may have fallen asleep." Puck says, looking down guiltily.

The blonde growls and kicks a can away from her in anger. "We talked about this Puck! If you feel tired, wake me up and I'll take the watch. We can't have a close call like what happened in Wal-Mart four months ago."

Puck nods, as does Finn, who both remember that day. The two of them decided it would be fun to break into Wal-Mart and run around for a while. Little did they know, a police officer had seen them break in and followed them. If it wasn't for Quinn, who distracted the Police officer by spraying bug spray in his eyes, Finn and Puck would most likely be in jail right now.

"We know."

"Oh that's great! I'm so happy you know! But did you learn your lesson? Apparently not! We had been searching for somewhere to sleep for days, Puck and when finally find it, you go and screw it up for us."

"How was I supposed to know that Finn would get bored and wonder off!"

"You know what he's like, Puck! We need to look after him before we look after each other!" Quinn shouts at him, causing Finn to whimper slightly.

"This is bullshit! The guy is the same age as us and he needs to learn how to look after himself! We can't baby Finn forever!" Puck growls, getting extremely close to Quinn.

However, this doesn't frighten Quinn at all. She's used to Puck's anger and his screaming. She knows that most of his anger isn't at her or Finn, but at his Dad who had left when he was 8 years old, his Mum and his Mum's boyfriend.

She also knows that he wouldn't ever hit her because he had been a spectator to abuse with his Mum's boyfriend. He would hold his little sister at night and calm her down when they'd hear his Mum's boyfriend beat the shit out of her. It was when he has heard the boyfriend threaten not only his Mum, but his little sister that he snapped. He had given the guy two broken ribs, a cracked skull and a sprained ankle.

Instead of praising Puck and thanking him for not only saving herself, but his little sister as well, his Mum kicked him out with nothing but the clothes on his back and a one way ticket to New York.

She also knows that he wouldn't hit her because of Quinn's past. But that's a story for another time.

"Guys." Finn says, trying to stop his two friends from fighting.

"You know his past as well as I do, Puck. You know he needs our help!"

"Guys-"

"He needs to grow up and learn how to walk on his own fucking feet! I'm tired of putting him first, in front of your safety and my own."

"Guys-" Finn tries again, he slowly stands up from the ground and walks over to the two of them.

"Will you stop being so selfish, Puck."

"Guys."

"WHAT?" They both shout, turning to face Finn.

Finn grins at the both of them and point to the sky. Turning their heads, Puck and Quinn spot the giant ball dropping. They hear the faint chants of the people of New York as they count down.

Finn places his arms over his two friend's shoulders and pulls them close. Together, they all watch as the city descends into a New Year.

When the clakson sounds and fireworks go off, Finn sighs happily. "Happy New Year guys." He says hugging them both at the same time.

Argument forgotten, Puck and Quinn look at each other and smile.

"Happy New Year, Finn." They say together.

* * *

**2 weeks later**

"He's gone."

Quinn's head snaps to the left, looking at Puck in confusement as he walks over to her. "What?" she asks.

Puck sighs and sits down beside Quinn on the roof of the abandoned building they found. His places his legs over the edge and swings them about. "Finn. He's gone."

Quinn blinks at Puck, her mouth open slightly in shock. She looks out to the buzzing city, the sound of traffic and sirens surrounding the two of them as they sit in silence. Quinn doesn't know what to say. Finn's left them. Why?

"How do you know?" She asks quietly, not removing her eyes from the street below.

"His toys are gone and so is your backpack."

At this information, Quinn looks at Puck in anger. The twat stole her backpack!

"He left this."

Quinn looks down at Puck's hand, seeing a folded up piece of paper resting between the man's fingers as he holds it out to her. Only allowing her fingers to brush against Puck's, she removes the paper and unfolds it, her eyes running over the untidy handwriting.

"_Guys,_

_I'm sorry for leaving. But I've been thinking about what you two were saying on New Years. I do need to learn to do this on my own and not have you two constantly looking out for me. I don't know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do, but you'll no longer have to look after me._

_I love you guys._

_Finn._

_P.S Quinn, I'm sorry for taking your bag."_

Her hand tightens round the paper, scrunching it up in the palm of her hand as she forms a fist. Bringing the fist up to her mouth, Quinn takes a deep calming breath, trying to quell the anger she feels bubbling up inside of her. Without saying a word to Puck, she throws the paper over the edge of the building and gets up. Wordlessly, Quinn walks to the entrance of the roof and makes her way down to where the three of them were sleeping.

She looks over to where Finn had slept and frowns when the sheet he was using is gone as well as his army figures. Her eyes move to where her bag was resting, which is to, now gone. Shaking her head, Quinn charges out of the building, ignoring Puck's calls.

Before she can even turn the corner of the street, a hand on her arm spins her around, making Quinn come face to face with Puck.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

Quinn rips her arm out of Puck's grasp. "I'm finding Finn and I am dragging his sorry ass back here to us!" She growls before spinning round and continuing to walk.

Puck's hand is back on her arm and once again, he stops her. "There's no use Quinn. It's highly unlikely that we'll find him."

"We will, Puck. We can't let him wonder this city alone!"

"We won't be able to. This city is huge. He may not even be in New York anyway." Puck says, looking at Quinn with worry.

The thought of never finding Finn really hits Quinn when she absorbs what Puck is saying to her. He's right, the city is massive. Thousands of people live here, millions comes and go. This alone causes tears to spring to Quinn's eyes.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asks, trying to keep her tears at bay.

"I was going to tell you." Puck says, removing two train tickets from his pocket. "But I saved the little amount of money we earned from the jobs we did and stole some from a few shops and used them to buy the three of us tickets to get out of the city and try our luck somewhere else."

"You only have two." Realisation dawns on Quinn. Finn took the other ticket. He's most probably already on the train now to God knows where. This time, Quinn allows the tears to fall.

Puck notices the tears and automatically pulls Quinn into a hug. He quietly shushes her as her rubs her back. He bites his lip to try and stop his own tears from forming. For the past year, Quinn had been the strong one between the three of them.

She hardly ever broke down, unlike he and Finn did, and always calmed them both down. He had seen Quinn and Finn form the mother-son like friendship over the past year. Although Quinn wasn't related to Finn, he knows that she saw Finn as her brother/son and loved him like one. He knows what it's like to be left by relatives. He knows she needs him to be strong for her and to comfort her.

So, that's what he is going to do.

* * *

**6 months later**

"You ready for this, blondie?" Puck asks, looking over his shoulder at Quinn whilst she stuffs some of the clothes they stole under her shirt. She moves the clothing about to make it seem like she's pregnant. Once satisfied with her work, she adjusts her posture so her pregnancy looks more realistic then gives Puck a thumbs up.

Puck grins at her and takes hold of her hand and they begin to walk into the store. Puck's proud of the plan he's made up. As far as he can tell, it's full proof. The plan, or as Puck named it 'Operation fake baby mama' goes like this:

Quinn will pretend to be pregnant. He and Quinn will enter the shop like a couple and Puck will distract the shop keeper with asking for directions whilst Quinn steals food and other essentials they need. Where does the pregnancy come in, you ask? Well, Puck will tell you.

If another customer catches Quinn and goes to tell the shopkeeper, Quinn will go into fake labour and drown out the customer's accusations with her screams of pain and then she and Puck will run.

He knows, it's a remarkable plan. No potholes anywhere.

When Quinn had asked him if the fake labour doesn't work or if the shopkeeper catches her, what will they do, Puck answered just for them to run.

Puck gives a nod to Quinn and she walks off down the aisles whilst he walks up to the bored looking shop keeper reading the newspaper.

"Hey man."

The shopkeeper glances at him and goes back to reading.

Puck pokes his tongue into his cheek and nods. "Listen, my pregnant wife and I are kinda lost and wondering if you could give us some directions..."

Quinn glances over at Puck as he starts a conversation with the shopkeeper. Smiling to herself, Quinn walks down the first aisle of confectionary. Peering around and making sure no one is looking, Quinn begins to pick up various candy, chocolate bars and bag of chips and places them in her pockets. She thanks whoever is looking down at them that she had brought her coat that had many pockets with her when she came to New York.

Satisfied with the confectionary filling her pockets, Quinn moves to the drink aisle and picks up a few bottles of waters and juice, also placing them in her pockets. She keeps on bottle of water in her hand and walks down the feminine care aisle, picking up her essentials from there before moving to the hygiene aisle. She pockets soap, tooth brushes, toothpastes and deodorants.

Quinn looks down at herself, wondering exactly how her coat is able to fit so much stuff in the pockets. She pauses in her walking when she spots a magazine sitting close by. She doesn't know what magazine company it is, but she recognises the face on the cover. It's the face of the woman whose house she stayed in so many months ago. The face of the woman who haunts her dreams every night. The face Quinn has never forgotten. Many quotes surround the face.

"_She's the fresh new face of Broadway!"_

"_Absolutely fantastic and delivers stunning performances!"_

"_Rachel Berry is the new Barbra Streisand"_

Quinn smiles at the name. After so long, she's finally learned this woman's name.

Rachel Berry.

Removing her eyes from the magazine, Quinn begins to walk back over to Puck, however, she spots a row of alcohol. Quinn glances over to the shopkeeper who is still telling Puck directions and looking increasingly annoyed with him. Slowly Quinn reaches out and grabs a bottle of vodka, making sure the bottles don't clink together.

However, Quinn hadn't noticed the man that had followed her spotted her stealing the alcohol.

"Hey! She's stealing!" The man shouts, pointing at Quinn who looks over at Puck in panic. The shopkeeper lifts up his head and looks over at Quinn in anger. She glances at Puck who silently urges her to do the next step of the plan.

Nodding, Quinn quickly undoes the cap of the water in her hand and pours it on the floor between her legs and then lets out an agonizing scream whilst bending down and clutching her stomach.

Puck gets into action and runs over to Quinn and feigns panic. "What is it baby?" He asks.

Quinn lets out another fake scream, and just like Puck thought, drowns out the man's protests and shouts of saying she's faking it.

"He's coming!" Quinn shouts through gritted teeth.

Puck widens his eyes and begins to walk Quinn out of the store, acting like he's trying to rush her. "Oh my god! Our boy is coming?" He asks.

"Yes!"

Puck grins and looks over at the shopkeeper. "Thanks for the directions man!"

Just as the two of them are about to leave, the empty water bottle Quinn had hidden falls out of her coat and clutters onto the floor. Quinn immediately stands up straight, her eyes darting from the water bottle to the shop keeper.

Everyone pauses for a moment before the shopkeeper glares at the two of them and jumps over the counter. "Hey!" He shouts.

"Time to run." Puck says before sprinting out of the door.

Quinn pulls out the clothes under her stomach and throws them in the quickly approaching shopkeeper's face before rushing out after Puck, careful not to drop anything she had stolen.

She smiles when she hears Puck's laughter and sees him jump in the air. She quickly follows, her feet pounding hard against the concrete sidewalk as they run away from the shopkeeper. A laugh escapes Quinn as the wind rushes past her face. She feels so free.

This the first time the two of them have been caught stealing. The others, they had Finn to block the shopkeepers view of Quinn and Puck and so walked out of the store calmly. She never felt a rush upon stealing at those times.

But now, well, now she does.

And she loves it.

Pucks comes to a stop at the place they're staying at and bends over trying to catch his breath. He wheezes out his laughter.

"Oh man that was close."

Quinn chuckles and throws Puck one of the bottles of water she took. "Yeah. That was great."

Puck takes a giant gulp from his water and walks over to Quinn, patting her on the back. "Good job on the screaming though, I really thought you were in labour."

Quinn shrugs smiling sheepishly. "It was nothing."

"If that was nothing, I'd like to see your something." He says with a laugh. "Where to next?" He asks, grabbing a few of the things they have lying around.

Ever since Finn left them, the two agreed not to stay in one place for too long, especially if they've stolen from a store. They don't want to get bored of where they are or have the potential of being caught.

Quinn remembers the magazine she saw in the store. She smiles when she thinks of the woman, Rachel Berry, who's probably living the dream performing on Broadway. From the posters Quinn saw in her room so many months ago, Quinn guessed she must have been some theatre geek or something. Turns out she'd the 'or something'. The blonde realises that she has a chance of seeing Rachel again, even if it's just a glance.

Quinn bites her lip and looks down shyly. "Can we uh, go to Broadway?"

Puck raises an eyebrow. "Broadway? I didn't know you liked musicals and shit."

"I don't." Quinn lies. "I read there's this big new performer there so she's going to attract a huge crowd with lots of spare change."

Puck stares at Quinn for a moment. He notices how she avoids his eyes and fiddles nervously with her hands. He knows she's lying and there's another reason why, but he's letting it go. For now.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

The first time Quinn sees Rachel was on a cold, wet and rainy Monday. From their place by the stage door, huddled closely together, Puck and Quinn stare at the massive crowd pushing and shoving each other from underneath their hoods and umbrellas. They can both tell they are avid fans of the show, what with the playbills, posters, t-shirts and bracelets each and every one of them have.

Puck moves away from Quinn and grabs a nearby tin can. "I'm going to bum some change." He whispers, moving closer to the crowd.

Quinn nods, barely hearing what he said to her over the pounding in her ears. She doesn't know why, but she's extremely nervous. She can feel her heart racing and her palms sweating. She tries to wipe them on her jeans, but due to the rain, they don't give her much help.

It only increases when the stage door opens and a bodyguard walks out, requesting for the fans to give some space for the stars. First walks out a blond haired man who stops to sign the various merchandise the fans are thrusting in his face. Quinn can't help but notice how bright of a smile she has, how he chats for at least two minutes to each and every one of them. She also notices how big his lips are.

"Dude, that guy has a huge mouth." Puck says when he walks back over to Quinn. He looks at her and grins, shaking the can about. "You were so right about this place. These guys are change gold!"

Once again, Quinn doesn't listen to Puck because at that moment, another figure steps out of the door and the sounds of the fans screaming "Rachel!" surrounds her. Moving from her position, Quinn slowly shuffles forward and tries to get a better look at her. Her heart flutter when she finally sees the woman's face.

Rachel had turned her head at the exact moment Quinn moved. Quinn smiles when she finally sees the familiar warm eyes looking at a fan as she happily signs their playbill. Rachel's smile is bright and welcoming to each of the fans and much like the big lipped man, she spends at least two minutes chatting to each of them.

But then Rachel does something Quinn didn't think she'd do. Rachel stops by the town car and looks around. Quinn ducks into the shadows and watches as Rachel searches for something or someone. The tiniest amount of hope that Quinn has inside of her says she's looking for Quinn. But Quinn shakes the feeling off once Rachel frowns and gets into the car.

Puck had watched Quinn the entire time she watched the short brunette woman. He gently touches her arm and guides her away from the theatre to their temporary home.

Over the course of the next four weeks, Puck recognises a pattern with Quinn and this theatre. Every day, without fail, with or without him, Quinn is at the theatre waiting for this woman to leave the theatre. Every time, Quinn will take a small step forward as if she's going to actually talk to the woman, but stops herself and walks backwards. And every time, Puck notices that the woman will stop by the car and will look around. She then frowns and steps into the car. He's also noticed, that every time he mentions moving to a new location, Quinn looks at him like he had just ripped her heart out and crushed it in his hands. That look alone causes him to drop the subject every time.

But now. Now he wants to leave, he wants to know who this woman is and why Quinn is so adamant at staying.

When they arrive back from yet another encounter or watching this woman leave the theatre, Puck decides to finally speak to Quinn about it.

"Do you want to tell me who that woman is?" He asks.

Quinn looks at Puck, confused. "She's the star of that musical." She answers, baffled by Puck's question.

"I know that." He sighs and grabs one of her hands. "But who is she to you?"

Quinn looks at Puck with the same heartbroken look he finds she's wearing more and more as the days pass. "I-I never told you about the days before I met you and Finn." She says quietly.

"Tell me. I promise to listen." He says sincerely.

And so, Quinn tells him. She informs him of breaking into the woman's-who she tells him is called Rachel- apartment, how the woman had let her stay the night and also gave her chance of leaving without the police being involved. He also finds out that through the short time that Quinn knew this woman, somehow, his blonde friend had fallen in love with her.

She didn't tell him that. Puck worked it out.

He guessed from the way her smile seemed to brighten when she spoke about this Rachel woman, how her eyes sparkled happily. But also from the sad, broken hearted look her face got when she spoke about leaving her.

With this new information, Puck continues to join Quinn on her watching of Rachel Berry. Each time, he nudges her closer to the group. However, each time, Quinn runs back and stands behind him. He even found a playbill on the ground and handed it to her once and pushes her forward, only to have Quinn throw the playbill in his face and walk away.

"I don't understand why you won't talk to her." Puck says one night whilst they wait for Rachel. The crowd is larger this time and seem more rowdy.

"I don't want to."

"Yes you do, you always take a step towards her. Every single time."

"I don't want her to see me." Quinn admits from her position in front of Puck.

"Why not?"

"Ms Berry and Mr Evans will not be able to give you any autographs or have their photos taken tonight." A bouncer says to the crowd. Both the crowd and Quinn deflate. The fans disperse and Quinn turns back to Puck.

She walks past him and sits in a corner beside a side exit of the theatre. She notices how a few fans are still waiting by the door, hoping to see Rachel and the big lipped man.

"Because I haven't accomplished anything since I last saw her, whilst she is on Broadway." Quinn explains, sounding exhausted. "I had hoped that I would at least have a camera and be living in a small apartment in the city by now, but no I am still on the streets trying to get by and doing absolutely nothing in my life."

"There's still time, Quinn." Puck says, sitting beside her. "We can go get jobs, save up some cash and buy a small apartment. You can buy that camera and I can buy a guitar, we can begin to get back on our feet. If we leave here, we can make it. Together."

"No there isn't." Quinn says dejectedly. "Look at us, Puck. We've gotten nowhere in the past seven months. We're both still on the streets, scraping together change we see lying around and stealing from several stores a week. Every job we get, we end up losing because you fall asleep on the job."

Puck nods and gets up. He grabs some of his things and begins to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving." He replies. "Like you said, we're not getting by. I'm messing up every job you get. I'm holding you back. Seeing as you are refusing to leave here and try somewhere else, I might as well go."

"No."

"Why not? You refuse to go somewhere else in the city. You refuse to use these tickets." He shouts, holding up the train tickets he's kept. We've done every job they could offer people like us in this city and gained fuck all. It's time for us to go to another city."

"You are not leaving me!"

"Then come with me." Puck says, his voice dropping to a whisper as he stares at Quinn with a small inkling of hope. He hopes she will join him and finally move on.

"No."

Puck sighs. "It's either you come with me and we can start anew, or I'm leaving and you can stay here, and fawn after a woman who probably doesn't even remember you."

When Quinn doesn't move, Puck has his answer. He nods to himself. "Fine." He says before throwing the ticket he has fro Quinn down at her feet before walking away.

Quinn watches Puck leave, completely stunned. She tries to call out to him, but find that her vocal chords simply won't do such an act for her. Instead, she picks up the train ticket and sits back down in her place by the door.

At that moment, the door swings open and out walks the blonde man and Rachel, both followed by their body guards. Quinn's eyes widen upon seeing Rachel so close. This is the closet she's gotten to her since she and Puck re-located to Broadway. Slowly, Quinn stands up and begins to follow them out of the alley.

However, Quinn stumbles and kicks a can, causing the sound of metal being banged to fill the area. Four sets of eyes turn her way in shock, but luckily, none of them see her as Quinn had quickly moved into the shadows and allowed the buildings to cast her in darkness. After a while, three sets of eyes turn away, saying it must have been a cat. But one set stays looking down the path.

She watches, with her heart fluttering wildly, as Rachel scans the area and hesitates in her walking. Quinn feels like her heart may break out from her chest when Rachel looks in her direction and she makes eye contact with the warm brown eyes she so often dreams about. She knows Rachel can't see her and so her nerves aren't as high as they would be.

Rachel's hesitance gets noticed by the blond man who turns to Rachel with worry.

"You okay, Rach?" He asks.

Rachel finally moves her eyes away from the spot that Quinn is standing in to look at the blond man. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just thought..." Rachel looks back over to the spot Quinn is standing in and furrows her eyebrows. "...I saw something." She says softly, turning back to look at the blond man.

"I'm sure it was just a cat."

Rachel nods and continues her walk to the car waiting for her.

Once she's out of sight, Quinn releases the breath she had been holding and slumps against the walls. She feels the tears well in her eyes and allows them to fall.

Only the sound of her broken sob can be heard.

* * *

**Five months later**

She hadn't moved from this spot. She slept in this spot, wept in this spot, ate what she could find in this spot and even went to the toilet in this spot. Without the familiarity, company and protection of Puck, Quinn had deteriorated dramatically. She had become so skinny, even sitting in the sun didn't keep her warm. Quinn knew she was unhealthy, that she is literally weltering away in this city. Yet, she can't find the will to move. She hasn't wanted to move since Puck left. She's scared to move.

All in all, Quinn had become a hobo.

She smelt, her hair was long and raggedy and she's pretty sure her legs looked like a jungle. She barely sleepy causing big dark rings to hang under her eyes. Most days, Quinn struggled to keep her eyes open.

Today was one of those days.

She hadn't heard the teenagers approaching until they got extremely close to her.

"Well well boys, look what we have here."

Quinn peeks out from under her hood at the group of adolescent boys surrounding her. The one who spoke finishes his can of pop before crushing it in his hand and throwing it at Quinn.

"A hobo, Josh." Another one speaks up.

The boy, Josh who Quinn realises to be this groups leader smirks at Quinn. "That's right. A filthy, dirty and smelly hobo."

Quinn swallows and with a scathing voice, speaks. "They mean the same thing." She says.

Josh glares at Quinn. "What? How dare you speak to me."

"Filthy and dirty. Those adjectives mean the same thing. Maybe you should go back to school." Quinn replies, looking away from the boy with nonchalance.

"Maybe you should get your scummy ass of these streets. This city is no place for a hobo scum like you."

Josh's friends all laugh at Quinn. Quinn swallows, this time fighting back an onslaught of tears.

"Look boys, the dirty hobo is sad." He crouches down, sending her a faux pitying look. "Did we upset the filthy hobo? Is the hobo going to cry?" He reaches out to pinch Quinn's cheek; however Quinn slaps his hand away and brings her knees up to her chest. She buries her face into her knees, wishing she could roll up in a ball and roll away.

"How dare you touch me?" Josh shouts.

"Stupid fucking Hobo!" Quinn hears someone else at her. Their words only cause her to curl into herself even more. She feels the tears slide down her cheeks and wet the material of her jeans.

Quinn feels something hit the side of her head. She whimpers slightly in fear when laughter once again circles her.

"Go get yourself a job you disgusting shit! Scum like you need to be thrown away!"

"Hey!"

Quinn's ears perk up when the sound of a new, feminine voice shouts over towards her. She doesn't lift her head to see who it is. She hears them threaten the group of boys before she feels the frightening presence of the teenagers disappear and instead, a caring presence replaces it.

Quinn jumps slightly when she feels a hand lay on top of her knee. She tenses up, waiting for more abuse to be shouted at her. However, the hand begins to gently rub at her knee and slowly begins to relax Quinn.

"Hey, it's okay." The woman coaxes. "They're gone now. They won't hurt you."

Quinn's eyebrows furrow together. She recognises that voice but for some reason, Quinn can't pin point who's voice it is. Their voice is warm and gentle. It makes Quinn feel cared for and loved.

Needing to know who this person is, Quinn lifts her head slightly, only enough for her to see the woman. Quinn's heart jumps into her throat when she finally sees the woman. The woman is the very person who Quinn had been watching for months now, the very person who Quinn can't ever stop thinking about.

The warm eyes of Rachel Berry sparkle at her in confusion and she tips her head to the side before speaking again.

"I'm Rachel, what's your name?" She softly asks.

Taking a deep breath, Quinn slowly lifts her head up from her knees and looks at Rachel. She thinks Rachel may have forgotten who she is due to the blank expression on Rachel's face. However, not a second later, the blank expression is gone and shock and recognition takes its place.

"Quinn."

Quinn blinks in shock, a small smile tugging lightly at the corner of her lips. Rachel remembers her name. After all this time, she still knows who Quinn is.

The blonde becomes anxious, though when Rachel just stares at her, her mouth hanging open slightly. She doesn't say anything more to Quinn, she only just stares. Quinn can't help think that Rachel is looking at her like she can't believe it's true.

This makes Quinn sad and self conscious. Of course Rachel wouldn't believe it, she obviously suspects that Quinn is off the streets by now, that's she actually done something more with her life. She's disappointed in her, Quinn can just tell by Rachel's lack of speaking. Quinn goes to move away from Rachel, but a hand on arm stops her.

Quinn looks back at Rachel, eyeing her in confusion as a determined look crosses the brunette's face. Next thing she knows, Rachel is pulling her up to her feet and wrapping an arm around Quinn's waist, keeping her upright. Quinn tries to shuffle away, not wanting Rachel to smell her, but the brunette only tightens her hold on Quinn's waist.

"Come on, you're coming home with me." Rachel says, guising Quinn back to her apartment.

Quinn almost laughs when she realises exactly close she was to Rachel's apartment. But she doesn't, she's still in a state of shock. Surely Quinn is dreaming. There's no way Rachel Berry is taking her to her apartment. The woman barely knows Quinn.

Quinn allows Rachel to direct her to the shower and shakes her head in a negative when Rachel asks if she needs any help with the shower. Nodding, Rachel leaves the blonde to wash herself without another word.

Stripping off her smelly clothing, Quinn steps into the shower and turns on the water. She gasps at the feeling of warm water finally hitting her grimy skin after so long. For five minutes, Quinn just stands under the raining water and watches as the dirt and grime on her body washes down the drain. She grimaces at how much dirt actually caked her skin and grabs for the shampoo, vigorously rubbing it into her hair. Once rinsing and putting in the conditioner, Quinn picks up the shower gel and flicks the cap.

Almost immediately, the smell of Lavender hits her nose and Quinn sighs contently. Squeezing a heaping amount of shower gel onto her skin, Quinn begins to roughly scrub her body, wanting to get every single dirty particle off her body. She cleans under her nails, between her toes and even in her belly button.

Once washed and cleaned, Quinn steps out of the shower to find a towel waiting by the sink as well as a brand new toothbrush. Smiling to herself, Quinn wraps the towel around her body and begins to furiously brush her teeth. She's determined to brush her teeth for at least three minutes. Quinn pauses when she spots her reflection in the mirror. It's been so long since Quinn saw herself so clean. Not a speck of dirt is on her face. Once finished brushing her teeth, Quinn walks into the bedroom to find a baggy pair of sweat pants and a NYADA hoodie laid out on the bed sheets for her.

Quinn sighs when the soft fabric of the hoodie and sweat pants rest upon her body. It's so nice to wear clean clothes again. She giggle at the slight tightness of the hoodie, guessing that the hoodie must be Rachel's. Sighing happily, Quinn sits down on the bed and lays back.

A moan escapes Quinn's mouth when her back sinks into the soft Styrofoam mattress. Never in her whole life has she laid on something so incredibly comfy. She feels her eyes close as the feeling of comfort surrounds her in a warm blanket. With one last content sigh, Quinn falls into a much needed, deep sleep.

A knock sounds at the door, but Quinn is fast asleep. Rachel slowly enters the room, her eyes immediately resting on the sleeping figure of Quinn lying in the middle of the bed, out like a light.

Rachel smiles to herself and walks over to the bed. She carefully pulls back the covers and throws them over Quinn. She tuck the blonde in, smiling when a soft sigh escapes Quinn's lips. Not being able to help herself, Rachel leans forward and places a gentle kiss on Quinn's head and tucks a few loose strands of still wet blonde hair behind Quinn's ear.

"I knew I would find you again." Rachel whispers before getting up from the bed and leaving the room.

The door closes with a soft click and a small, happy smile pulls up on a sleepy Quinn's face.

* * *

**That is the end of that chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it and as I promised, I threw in some interaction. I hope it's not cheating seeing as one half of Faberry was asleep during the interaction :S**

**Anyway, tell me what you guys think!**

**Thank you**

**xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. I wanted to say thank you all so much for the lovely reviews you left for the last chapter. I'm so glad I got a positive response from it. I hope this chapter is just as good as the last one.**

**Side note: The next update won't be for another two weeks because I will be on holiday next week and won't have time to write up a good enough chapter for all you lovely readers.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."_ - Helen Keller

The worn piece of paper twirls through Rachel's fingers in the same pattern it has for the past two years. For two years she had been searching, watching and looking for the one woman who stayed on her mind since she left this very apartment. There was days where Rachel would walk into the apartment, switch on the TV to Tom and Jerry and sit down and cry, wishing she would walk home to Quinn sitting and watching the cartoon. Then there were days where Rachel would walk past the TV and straight into her room. She'd close the door behind her, take out the note and just read every single line until tears fell from her eyes.

And now, after two years of hoping, Rachel had finally found Quinn. But not in the way she wished.

To say Rachel was surprised that she found Quinn still on the street is an understatement. Rachel would be lying to herself if she said she did not feel relieved and gloriously happy when she saw it was Quinn. She just wanted to pull her into a hug and never let her go.

But then it hit her.

Quinn was still homeless. She hadn't achieved what she wished in her note. This little fact hurt Rachel deeply. If there's one thing Rachel hates more than her achieving her dream, it's other people not achieving their dreams.

So, in that moment, Rachel knew what she had to do. She had to bring Quinn home and let her stay and get back on her feet.

(And if somewhere along Quinn feel in love with Rachel then Rachel wouldn't oppose to that.)

But it is mainly about helping Quinn.

The slamming of the front door causes Rachel to jump and the letter to slip through her fingers and onto the floor. Sighing in annoyance, Rachel slips off the stool and gets onto her hands and knees. She grimaces at the dirt she feels touch her palms.

"I'm here, what is the big emergency?" Emma's voice travels to Rachel before the woman appears

Rachel rolls her eyes and spots the letter hidden round the corner of the island. She crawls forward on her knees.

"Where are you?"

"Kitchen." Rachel calls out, whispering a quick shout of victory when her fingers latch onto the letter. Rachel's too busy silently celebrating she doesn't hear Emma approach her.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Emma asks in confusion.

Emma's close proximity causes Rachel to jump once again. Rachel hisses in pain when her head connects with the underside of the island's counter.

"Ow, shit." Rachel grumbles, rubbing at the sore spot on her head before standing up on the other side of the island.

Rachel glares at the amused and confused Emma as her head continues to pound angrily. Rachel shoves the letter into her pocket, noticing that Emma's eyes follow the movement before the blonde woman rolls her eyes.

"You still have that?" Emma asks exasperatedly. She sits herself down onto Rachel's previously occupied stool and places her bag onto the counter.

Rachel's eyebrows furrow in irritation when Emma reaches from her cup of coffee and takes a sip of it. "You could make your own coffee." Rachel says, ignoring Emma's question.

Emma smiles sweetly at Rachel. "Ah yes but that would involve moving." She finishes off Rachel's coffee and pushes the mug over to Rachel, indicating she'd like more. "Now, why did you text me saying you had something important to show me?"

Rachel washes the dirt off her hands and wipes them on her jeans. She pours Emma some more coffee and clears her throat. "I need you to promise me you won't get mad."

Her manager eyes Rachel warily. "Why?" She asks suspiciously, taking a sip from the mug.

"Just promise me."

Emma rolls her eyes and nods. "Alright, I promise." She places the mug back down on the counter and stands up.

Rachel nods and walks round the island. She indicates for Emma to follow her to her bedroom door. Emma notices Rachel's growing nerves as they approach the bedroom.

Knowing a joke will probably ease the tension off of Rachel, Emma asks, "You haven't got any kinky shit in here, have you?"

Rachel's eyes widen comically and she lets out a quiet laugh. "No, nothing like that." With that, Rachel twists the door handle and slowly opens the door. She feels Emma lean around her to see into the room, but her eyes are focused on the sleeping form of Quinn.

The sleeping blonde's hair is all fuzzy and spread out across Rachel's pillows. The comforter is half on half off Quinn and one leg of the sweatpants Rachel let her borrow is rolled up to her knee. Rachel smiles at the scene.

All of a sudden, Rachel feels herself get yanked back and the door is slammed shut. She stumbles over her feet as Emma drags Rachel to the kitchen, her grip on Rachel's arm is firm. Emma places Rachel onto the stool and presses her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. "Please tell me you do not have the squatter that broke into your home two years ago sleeping in your bed." Emma says evenly.

Rachel shifts on the stool and sits up straight. She folds her arms across her chest, angry that Emma has referred to Quinn as 'the squatter' and that she said with disgust.

"I do not." Emma's eyes spring open and she glares at Rachel. "I have _Quinn _sleeping in my bed."

"Are you crazy? Have the stage lights burned your brain or something? You can't allow the woman who broke into your home to sleep here! What if she steals something?"

"First of all, your logic of the stage lights is completely ridiculous, secondly I can allow her into my home and thirdly I am not crazy, I resent that!"

"You're pretty fucking crazy to allow a squatter to sleep in your bed!" Emma shouts.

"For the last time her name is Quinn!" Rachel shouts back, standing up from the stool.

Rachel knows Emma is furious with her. The woman's nostrils are flared, her eyes are narrowed dangerously, her shoulders are shaking and her left eyebrow is quivering. Rachel's shoulder slump in exasperation. She really doesn't want to have an argument with Emma so early in the morning.

"Look," Rachel says softly, "I am going to allow her to stay here, okay? You didn't see the state she was in when I found her. If you really don't trust her, why don't you use that weird power thing you have where you can tell if someone is lying on her. Would that make you feel better?"

Emma's posture relaxes and she nods her head. "Okay."

A cough in the doorway takes the women's attention away from one another. Rachel smiles softly upon seeing a very awkward looking Quinn standing in the doorway. Hazel eyes dance between the two women nervously as a pink tongue wets plump lips. Rachel's eyes follow the movement of the tongue, her own tongue doing the same action. She doesn't notice that Quinn had spoken.

A nudge in her ribs takes her gaze away from the blonde's lips to the green eyed blonde standing beside her. Rachel looks at Emma blankly who subtly nods her head to Quinn.

Realisation dawns on Rachel and she turns to Quinn. "I'm sorry; I didn't quite hear what you said then." Rachel says, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Quinn nods. "I-um-thank you."

Rachel tilts her head to the side. "What for?"

"Allowing me to stay the night." Quinn steps forward and hands Rachel the hoodie and sweatpants she borrowed, both neatly folded.

That's when Rachel notices that Quinn is wearing the clothes she was wearing last night when Rachel found her. Rachel's eyebrows furrow together and she places the hoodie and sweatpants onto the counter.

"Why have you changed?"

Quinn scratches the back of her head and glance at Emma. "I don't want to overstate my stay here and I'm guessing you wish for me to leave."

Rachel glances at Emma in panic. She silently pleads for Emma to leave the two of them alone. Emma rolls her eyes.

"I need to go." Emma says, grabbing her bag. She turns to Quinn and outstretches her hand. "I'm Emma, Rachel's manager."

Quinn shakes her hand with a small smile. "Quinn."

Emma nods at her and takes out her cell phone. She points at Rachel as she makes her way to Rachel's front door. "Sam's coming over in about an hour and you're going for a walk through central park."

"Who's Sam?" Quinn asks. A gasp immediately follows her question and she places a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, that-that's none of my business."

Rachel smiles fondly at Quinn and shakes her head. "It's fine. Sam's my-"

"He's Rachel's boyfriend." Emma interrupts Rachel. When Rachel glares at Emma, Emma only glares back at her in warning before shouting a goodbye and leaving.

"Oh." Quinn bites her lip.

Rachel looks back at Quinn, watching with curiosity as Quinn shuffles awkwardly.

"I best be off, then." Quinn says.

The brunette shakes her head and grabs hold of Quinn's arm, stopping her from leaving. "Actually, I wanted to ask you a few questions first, if you wouldn't mind."

Quinn hesitates, her eyes darting to the front door for a moment before she nods and sits herself down gingerly on the stool Rachel pulls out for her.

Rachel follows and sits on the stool next to her and places her hands in her lap. "First question: Do you have anywhere to live at the moment?"

When Quinn shakes her head in response, Rachel continues.

"Is there anyone in the city that you can live with?"

Quinn shakes her head again.

"Are you currently living on the streets?" Rachel knows the answer is obvious-she found the woman on the streets for Christ sake, but she asks the question anyway.

This time, Quinn nods her head.

Rachel bites her lip, finding it amusing that Quinn's choosing not to speak. "Lastly: Has the cat got your tongue?"

Rachel watches in amusement as Quinn's face contorts into confusion. "What?"

"That's a no, then." Rachel replies with a smile. She hopes the smile is calming enough for Quinn that the blonde relaxes in her posture. However, the smile only seems to make Quinn's posture tenser.

"I don't understand-why are you asking me these questions?"

Rachel doesn't answer Quinn. She leans forward, her elbows resting on her knees and smiles. "I'm going to ask you one more question. I will not take no for an answer, okay?"

Quinn nods. Rachel raises an eyebrow at Quinn, causing the blonde to flush. "Ok."

"Would you like to become my roommate?"

Quinn's mouth opens and closes a few times. She looks at Rachel blankly then looks away at the floor. Her eyes dart back up to Rachel again, her mouth staying open this time. Disbelief covers her face.

"Remember, I won't take no for an answer."

Quinn stares at Rachel for a few minutes. "Are you serious?" She asks quietly.

Rachel's eyebrows furrow together. "Why wouldn't I be serious?"

"You hardly know me. Last time I was here you asked me to leave."

Happiness fills Rachel from the top of her toes to the very top of her head. Quinn remembers her, she remembers staying here. However, when Quinn's words catch up to Rachel's mind, a small frown dons Rachel's face. She's doubts Rachel.

"Last time you were here, you broke into my home. This time, I'm inviting you to stay into my home. It doesn't matter that I hardly know you, you hardly know me. We can get to know each other, Quinn."

Quinn bites her lip and seems to contemplate what Rachel is saying. Rachel fiddles with her shirt nervously as she awaits Quinn's answer. She knows that she said she won't take no for an answer, but Rachel can't exactly force Quinn to stay here.

"Ok."

It takes a moment for Rachel to process Quinn speaking, but when she does, she squeals in excitement and jumps off her stool.

"Yay! This is so exciting! Oh we're going to have to get you some clothes, toiletries, food because I'm guessing you're not vegan and a bed for the spare bedroom, I'm going to need to move things out of there to make room for you, but that's absolutely fine because you will no longer be on the street-"

"Rachel."

"We can even get you some of your favourite movies and snacks, I hope you like musicals because I will make you watch Funny Girl, no room for argument on that one-"

"Rachel."

"And you need a haircut." Rachel stops her rant in order to take a deep breath.

"Rachel."

"Yes, Quinn?" Rachel asks, spinning round to face the blonde.

Quinn stands up from the stool and takes a step towards Rachel. "Do you think maybe, we could save all that for later?"

"Of course, what would you like to do?"

Quinn bites her lip and looks over at the living room where the TV is in her line of sight. "Would it be okay if we watch some Cartoons?"

Rachel can feel the tears rise in her eyes. However, this time, they are from happiness. She cannot tell you how many times she has imagined hearing Quinn say those words to her and how sad she was when she would open her eyes and not find Quinn.

"Yeah, of course."

Quinn smiles softly. She pauses in her movements and looks at Rachel with concern. "Are you okay?"

Rachel smiles and nods at the concerned blonde. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure, you look like you're about to cry." Quinn says, worry evident in her voice.

Rachel nods her head. "Yeah. Let's watch some Cartoons."

* * *

"I found her, Sam."

Sam stops walking and turns to Rachel, his eyes widening. Their joined hands swing between them as they stand in the middle of the park, ignoring the random camera flashes of poorly hidden Paparazzi.

"What?" Sam asks.

Rachel beams at him. "I found her, I found Quinn."

"Are you serious?"

Rachel nods rapidly. Before she can even think, Sam's arms are wrapping around her body and he's spinning her around in a hug. Rachel lets out a joyous laugh, her giggles mixing in with Sam's as he spins the both of them around, his arm wrapped around Rachel's small form tightly.

"I also knew you would." Sam says, sounding just as excited as Rachel is once he sets her back on the ground. "When Rachel Berry sets her mind to something, she does it with all her heart." He states proudly.

Rachel's smile brightens. She takes hold of Sam's hand and they continue their 'couple-y' stroll through Central Park.

"How did you find her? Where did you find her?" Sam asks, a bounce in his step as he thinks about how happy Rachel looks.

"On the street." Rachel says softly so the paparazzi don't hear them.

"What?"

"She's been living on the streets all this time, Sam. As far as I can guess, she's been on her own as well. It breaks my heart to think that she's been braving the streets all on her own and that no one was there to protect her."

"You don't know that, though." Sam says.

"I know, but I just have a feeling that she was on her own. Obviously, I won't ask her about it until she's more comfortable around me."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I've asked her to be my roommate. I hate that she was on the streets for two years because of me, I feel so guilty. I promised myself that if I ever found her again, I won't let her go."

"That's great!" Sam says excitedly. "She won't be on her own because she has Rachel Berry looking after her. Everyone knows that Rachel Berry is the best person to look after someone."

Rachel sighs happily and rests her head against Sam's arm. "Thanks Sam."

"How about to celebrate, we buy some ice cream and you can introduce me to Quinn."

"Vegan Ice Cream?"

"Of course"

"Yay!"

Sam grins then stands in front of Rachel. He squats so his back is level with Rachel's thighs. "Hop on, Miss Berry." He says with a cheeky smile over his shoulder.

Rachel laughs happily and jumps onto his back. Her legs wrap round his waist tightly and her arm wrap round his neck. "Onwards Mr Evans!" She commands, pointing forwards.

As he was commanded, Sam begins to run the two of them to the Ice Cream parlour to celebrate his friend finding the girl she loves.

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was short and sweet to level out the angst in the past few chapters.**

**Thank you for reading!**

**xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, I am so sorry for the long wait for this update. I've been meaning to finish it earlier this week, but I got caught up with Game of Thrones (I'm only on season 2 so don't ruin it for me!) and college work. I would like to thank you all so so much for the lovely reviews you left for the last chapter.**

**I hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

_"The trust of an innocent is the liar's most useful tool." - Stephen King_

As Rachel finishes the last of her ice cream, she feels her pocket vibrate. She and Sam stop in their walking so she can dig through her pocket for the vibrating machine. She's pretty sure she didn't put that in her pocket. It's tucked away in her draw at home.

When Rachel's hand wraps round the object, she blushes deeply. It's her phone.

Why Rachel thought she accidently packed the vibrator Santana gave her on her birthday last year she'll never know.

She spots Sam's questioning look, having noticed the blush in her cheeks. Rachel only shakes her head at him and answers her phone.

"Rachel Berry's phone, this is Rachel berry speaking."

"Rachel, it's me, Emma. I thought I told you to only say that if you don't know who's calling."

"I know but it's polite." Rachel says with a roll of her eyes.

Emma hums like a parent hums at a child. "Listen, you can't tell Quinn the true nature of yours and Sam's relationship."

Rachel's eyes dart over to Sam. She smiles upon seeing the ice cream smothering Sam's mouth. "Why?"

"She can leak it to the press and yours and Sam's jobs will be down the drain."

Rachel rummages through her bag and removes a tissue. "This is only because you don't trust her." she hands the tissue to Sam

"You shouldn't trust her."

"I have no reason not to." Rachel says, giggling at Sam as he attempts to wipe away the ice cream.

"You hardly know her - there's your reason."

Rachel shakes her head at Sam. He pouts angrily.

"Hopefully that will change." Rachel replies, she takes the tissue from Sam's hand and beckons him closer.

"Just don't tell her, okay? I've got to go now as I have to read through your contract for that TV show you're doing in the spring." Emma says before hanging up.

Rachel sighs and slips her phone into her handbag and begins to wipe away the ice cream off of Sam's mouth.

"You're like a child." Rachel mutters fondly.

Sam smiles bashfully. "But I'm adorable." He replies with a grin. "So, when do I get to meet Quinn?"

"Soon, but Emma wants us to not tell Quinn the truth."

Sam nods his head. "Looks like it's your lucky day Rachel Berry, as I am your boyfriend for the day."

* * *

Rachel skips through the elevator doors excitedly, her hand firmly clasping Sam's.

"I think you two will become fast friends." She gushes whilst searching for her key.

"She loves Cartoons like you." She continues to talk as she opens up the door.

Sam happily follows Rachel into the apartment, noticing the TV has been paused on an episode of Tom and Jerry. He watches as Rachel calls out Quinn's name and searches the apartment.

However, he begins to worry when a look of panic appears on Rachel's face and her searching becomes frantic. The first fall of a tear is when Sam moves into action.

Like the months previously, Sam wraps his strong arms around Rachel's small body and just holds her. He doesn't complain when he feels tears soak his shirt or when Rachel wipes her nose on the material. He just does what he knows Rachel needs right now.

She needs someone to hold her.

And so he does and listens to her choke out the words "She's gone".

A knock at the still open door distracts Sam from the crying woman in his arms. His eyebrows rise in shock when his eyes land on a strikingly beautiful blonde standing awkwardly in the doorway and holding a basket of clothes.

"Uh-hi." she waves awkwardly at Sam. "Am I interrupting something?"

From the way Rachel's head snaps up from its spot against Sam's chest, Sam realised who this woman is. It's-

"Quinn..." Rachel says softly.

Quinn smiles at Rachel. "I hope you don't mind but I saw your hamper was full and thought id help out and wash the clothes for you."

Sam recognises the smile that graces Rachel's face as the two women talk. She wore that same smile when she first showed Sam the note. She wore it every time she spoke about the blonde. She smiled it earlier when she informed Sam of how she found her. This smile is different from Rachel's other smiles.

She has her soft smile for when she finds something or someone adorable, she has her Rachel Berry mega watt smile for when she's on stage. Finally she has her laughing smile that is so large, it causes the corners of Rachel's eyes to crinkle, her eyes to sparkle and her nose to scrunch up.

No, this smile is not her others.

This one is her Quinn smile.

And Sam's realised that this is his favourite Rachel smile.

Not only does her face light up with love, her whole body fills with happiness. The amount of happiness that Rachel oozes from this smile can cause Kristen Stewart to light up like a Christmas tree.

Sam blinks when a hand is held out towards him. He stares at the hand, not exactly knowing why it's outstretched like that. A nudge in his side brings his attention away from the hand to Rachel.

"What?" he asks.

"Sam, this is Quinn." Rachel says glaring at Sam in annoyance.

Sam catches up to the conversation he obviously zoned out on and smiles brightly at Quinn and grasps hold of her out stretched hand.

"Nice to finally meet you, I'm Sam, Rachel's boyfriend."

Quinn nods, her eyes glancing towards Rachel. "I know." she replies and drops her hand back to the washing basket.

Her eyes dart between the two Broadway stars both smiling widely at her. She licks her lips nervously, growing increasingly uncomfortable under both Rachel and Sam's gaze. But mainly Sam's.

"Where should I...?" Quinn trails off and motions to the washing basket in her hands.

The sentence seems to break Sam and Rachel out of their traces. Rachel jumps forward.

"Give this to me, you can just go lie down if you wish." Rachel says, taking the washing basket from Quinn.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. But I'm bringing in a new rule: You need to leave a not if you leave the apartment. I will also do that." Rachel grins at Quinn before skipping away to put away the freshly washed clothes.

Quinn and Sam awkwardly stand in the room, both watching where Rachel just left. Quinn's eyes dart from the door to Sam, to the TV then back to Sam before landing on her sock covered feet. She hears Sam smack his lips together then a popping sound of a cap. Looking up, Quinn raises an eyebrow as she watches Sam apply chapstick. The blond man notices Quinn's gaze and pauses in his movements.

"What? I like to keep them moisturised." He says defensively.

Quinn takes a small step back at his defensive tone. "Sorry, I just-I've never seen a guy use chapstick before."

Sam shrugs and caps the lip balm. "Most guys don't care, but these lips need to stay moisturised." He says with a smile as he gestures to said lips.

Quinn chuckles and looks behind Sam at the TV. "Do you-uh-want to watch some Cartoons?" She asks quietly.

The blond grins widely. "Yeah, I love Cartoons."

Quinn beams and follows him over to the TV. " Really? Me too."

Rachel watches as her best friend and her new roommate chat animatedly about their favourite cartoon from her bedroom door. This Quinn is different to the woman who broke into her home two years ago. That woman was confident and arrogant. This Quinn is reserved and timid. Her actions aren't done with confidence anymore. She seems almost frightened to do them and nervous. Something happened after she left Rachel's apartment, something that changed her. Half for the better, half for the worst. But it still changed her.

And Rachel is determined to find out what.

Moving away from the doorway, Rachel finishes putting away her clothes before grabbing her purse and coat. She walks into the living room and leans her arms over the back of the settee, between Sam and Quinn. She notices Quinn glance at her quickly before she shuffles away a little and looks back at the screen.

"So, I was thinking." Rachel says to the two blonde's engrossed in the cartoons playing in front of her. "That we need to buy you some new clothes, Quinn."

Her sentence distracts Quinn from the TV screen. However, Sam doesn't seem to have heard her.

"You don't have to do that, Rachel." Quinn says softly, her eyes holding Rachel's gaze.

Rachel blinks, having become lost in Quinn's bright eyes. She's never been so close to them before. She beams at Quinn. "Of course I do. You have no clothes, no money and no job, you wouldn't be able to pay for them."

"I'm fine, honestly."

"Quinn, I will not have my roommate lounging about in one set of clothes. I am going to buy you new clothing. Consider it a welcome gift."

Quinn bites her lip nervously and nods. "Okay, but when I get a job, I'm going to pay you back every cent you spend."

Rachel smiles and stands up straight. "That's all I ask." She turns to the blond man still engrossed by the TV. "Are you coming, Sam?" She asks, running her hands through his hair.

"Nah, I'll stay here. You girls have fun shopping." He says, briefly looking at Rachel.

Quinn grabs her coat and stands next to Rachel, smiling gently at her.

"I'll see you later, then." Rachel says before placing a kiss on Sam's head. She turns to Quinn with a bright smile. "Time to get you some clothes."

* * *

"What about this?" Rachel asks, once again holding up a argyle garment.

Quinn rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "I've told you Rachel, I don't like argyle. It's for old ladies."

Rachel places the shirt back and huffs. "I have you know, I used to wear argyle during my time in High School and looked perfectly young in it!"

A very un-lady like snort escapes Quinn before she can stop it. "Seriously?" She asks, moving to look at the row of dresses hanging up in the shop.

Rachel nods and skips over to Quinn. "Yes."

"Did you get bullied for wearing it?" Quinn asks, admiring a dress for a moment before moving on. Rachel pauses and looks at the dress Quinn was looking at before picking it up and placing it in her basket.

"Yes, quite a lot actually. But I managed to snag a few boyfriend's wearing it as well."

Rachel watches as Quinn's fingers dance over the fabric of a pair of skin tight jeans before moving away to some skirts. Rachel picks up the jeans and places them in her basket. She's making sure to take every item Quinn stops to look out for a lengthy amount of time.

"If I went to high school with you, I probably would have bullied you." Quinn softly says, not looking Rachel in the eye.

"Why?"

"I was Head Cheerleader in my Sophomore year."

"That doesn't mean we couldn't have been friends."

Quinn turns to look at Rachel and raises an eyebrow at her. The action briefly transports Rachel back to the day she first met Quinn. The confidence in that eyebrow raise is back. It reminds Rachel of the other reason for taking Quinn out of the apartment.

"Rachel, who bullied you most in High School?"

Rachel looks down. "The Head Cheerleader."

"Exactly, I would have done the same."

"But she's now one of my closest friends. Why would you have done the same?"

"I would have had to." Quinn softly admits. She swallows thickly and looks away. "Can we talk about something else please?" She asks, moving away from the shoes she was looking at.

Rachel picks up the shoes and places them in her increasingly heavy basket. "Of course."

Quinn notices Rachel's filled basket and sighs. "Rachel, you don't need to buy all of those, I only need a few."

"I want to. Now, how about we go pay for these and get some food? I'm starving."

* * *

"So you're also a vegan as well as a Broadway Star." Quinn says as they both begin to eat. Her legs lightly brush the many bags piled underneath their table. Rachel insisted of buying all the clothes Quinn touched.

Rachel swallows her bit of her vegan wrap. "How did you know that?"

Quinn tilts her head to the side in confusion and points at Rachel's wrap. "You're eating a vegan wrap." She says in confusion.

Rachel shakes her head. "No, how did you know I'm on Broadway?"

Quinn places down her cheeseburger. "Rachel, I've been living on the New York streets for sometimes, I think I'll notice your face on a billboard in timesquare."

A pout that forms on Rachel's face quickly panics Quinn. Her panic rises when Rachel looks down in sadness at her plate.

"Have I said something wrong?" Quinn asks quickly. "I'm so sorry Rachel, I didn't mean to-"

Rachel's hand on hers stops her from talking. Hazel eyes slowly look up from the hand resting upon her own to the warm, gentle brown eyes staring back at her.

"You didn't say anything." Rachel reassures. "It's just that-You know more about me than I know of you." Rachel pauses before her eyes light up in excitement. "Oh, I know! How about we play twenty questions? If there's a question we're not comfortable with answering, we just say stop and then move onto another question!"

Quinn looks at Rachel warmly, finding the way she's getting excited adorable. Quinn mentally shakes herself of that thought. She can't think like that, Rachel is with Sam and Sam seems like a nice guy, she can't ruin it.

"Ok."

"I'll start."

"Why do you get to start?"

"Because I thought of it." Rachel says in a matter-of-fact tone. She clears her throat and looks Quinn straight in the eye, her expression completely serious. "What's your favourite colour?"

Quinn's eye twitches slightly, along with the right hand corner of her lips. "You're serious? That's your first question? Out of all the questions you could ask, you chose that one?"

Rachel glares at Quinn playfully. "Yes now answer!"

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Blue." Rachel grins, happy with Quinn's answer. "What is your favourite colour?"

"Hey! You can't repeat my own question to me."

"You never made any rules for it. Answer."

"Gold." Rachel picks at her wrap and nibbles on her bottom lip. "How long have you lived on the streets for?"

Quinn leans back, as if Rachel's question physically shoved her back into her chair. She looks at Rachel in slight shock at how blunt she was. Rachel seems to notice Quinn's hesitance.

"You don't have to answer."

"No, I will, just-that just came as a shock, I wasn't expecting that." Quinn says, placing a hand over her eyes.

She composes herself and thinks back to the day she closed the door behind her for good and never looked back. She remembers the red face of her father and the mascara stained face of her mother. She shakes the memories away and takes a deep breath before removing her hand.

"Since I was seventeen years old."

"Really?"

"Hey, it's my turn to ask the question." Quinn says with a cheeky smile, letting Rachel know the question didn't really bother her. "When did you know you wanted to be on Broadway?"

At the mention of Broadway, Rachel seems to lighten up. Energy seems to bounce off her as she starts to gush about her lifelong ambition.

"Ever since my Daddies sat me down in front of the TV and showed me Funny Girl for the first time. I was two years old and already knew I was destined for the stage." Rachel's energy doesn't seem to leave when she asks Quinn her next question. "Why do you want to be a photographer?"

Quinn's eyes widen. "You remember?"

"I do."

"Oh, wow." Quinn pauses, taking in the fact Rachel remembers that she wanted to be a photographer. "Well, I think with photography you can capture so many moments in one click. You can store so many memories in one single photo. The great thing about a photo is that you can look at it and have a rush of memories flood back into you, maybe even memories your mind has long since forgotten. I also love the fact that in one lens, you can capture such beauty with a single click."

Rachel grins at Quinn as she becomes animated whilst talking. Quinn notices and blushes. She clears her throat and picks at her burger.

"Why are you leaving Broadway and going into TV?"

Now it's Rachel's turn to fall back against her chair in slight shock. She quickly composes herself and sits up straight once again. "Broadway will always be my first love." She says, repeating a line she's said to many interviewers.

"That's not what I asked." Quinn says, immediately picking up on the way Rachel's avoided the question.

Rachel smiles to herself. Nothing gets past this woman. "Emma thinks it will be good for my career to show I'm not just all about musicals, that I can act in other genre's and other media productions."

"Is that what you want, though?"

"It's my turn to ask a question." Rachel says, becoming slightly guarded. She doesn't like the way their questions were heading. Quinn nods, noticing she's overstepped her boundary and patiently awaits her question. "Why did you leave home?"

At Rachel's words, the images of a hand, a belt, a paddle and a angry faced Russell Fabray fly into Quinn's mind like on a slide show. Every time she blinks it's a new slide. A new memory of her home life. A hand. A fist. A glass being thrown past her head. . She feels her hand slowly grip hold of the table, her grip becoming tighter with each passing image

Over and over again it plays in her head. She can hear herself calling for him to stop. She can see her Mum standing off to the side, watching it happen again and again. She can once again hear the sound of the belt hitting her flesh. Her breathing quickens rapidly, her eyes slam shut. She tries to shake the images away, but they won't go.

They will always be there.

Then she blinks.

She's pulled out of her memories by a hand on her arm. Her eyes lock onto Rachel's once again and she notices the worry in Rachel's soft eyes.

"Quinn, breathe Sweetie." She says, her hand moving to rub circles on Quinn's back.

That's when Quinn notices her irregular breathing and her death grip on the table. She releases the table, feeling pain shoot through her fingers when the feeling comes back to them. She takes a few deep breathes to calm herself.

"You don't have to answer the question, okay? It was wrong of me to ask you that." Rachel says.

Quinn realises how close Rachel is to her, much like earlier on the couch, and scoots herself back a little, to put some distance between the two of them. Rachel's hand falls from her back due to her movements.

"Can we go back?" Quinn asks, her voice barely above a whisper. "Please?"

Rachel nods, her eyes soft and understanding. "Yes, of course." She says. She gets up and grabs hold of their bags. Quinn takes a few from Rachel and they begin to walk out of the Mall.

Rachel doesn't know what just happened, if it was the question that sent Quinn into a panic attack or the images the blonde seemed to be looking at that caused it. However, what Rachel does know that whatever happened to cause Quinn to run away was extremely bad.

She also knows that whenever she finds out who hurt Quinn, they will not live to take another breath.

Not if Rachel Berry has anything to do about it.

* * *

**I hope this chapter was good enough that it balances out the long wait for this. Thank you for reading!**

**xx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello you lovely people! Thank you all so much for the plethora of reviews you guys left. I'm happy to see many of you don't like Emma, that was my plan. She will be showing her softer side soon, though! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as it features a certain fiery Latina and her daughter.**

**I've started this thing where I put a quote that relates to either the general them of the chapter, or something within the chapter. Tell me if you guys like it or just want me to scrap the idea.**

* * *

_"A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars" - Carly Simon_

It's been two weeks since Quinn moved in and Rachel couldn't be happier. Of course, everyone noticed this apart from the above mentioned blonde. Every step Rachel took had more of a bounce in it, every song she sang had more soul and emotion, every smile was brighter and every word was said with such joy that whoever Rachel was speaking to couldn't help but smile.

Santana Lopez noticed this new development as well. How could she not? Just two weeks ago her best friend was unhappy. She was like a ghost walking amongst a sea of people. Every word that was spoken to her was either responded with a one word answer or it just went over her head. Now, Santana was slowly getting frustrated with Rachel and her moping about. It was affecting her daughter whenever she would visit Rachel. So now, now Santana wants to know exactly who it was that changed her friend.

"Hello Rachel Berry's phone, Rachel Berry speaking."

Santana rolls her eyes at her friend. "Berry, it's me."

"_Oh hello Santana, how are you on this beautiful day?_"

Santana looks outside. It's raining.

Yeah, she's definitely happier.

"Who's making you so happy?"

"_I'm fine thank you Rachel, how are you? Oh I'm absolutely brilliant Santana, thank you for asking_." Rachel jokes, giggling at herself.

The Latina groans, already finding the bubbly brunette annoying. She's not sure which was more annoying to be honest: The moping, depressed Brunette or the bubbly and hyped up one.

"Yeah, yeah now spill."

"_I don't know what you mean_."

"I swear to god Rach if you don't tell me I will beat your new happiness out of you." Santana says. She sits herself down on her couch, watching her beautiful three and a half year old daughter plays with her doll house.

"_I found her_." Santana can literally hear the mega watt smile Rachel is wearing.

"Found who?"

"_Quinn. The woman who broke into my home_."

"You're shitting me."

Jessica's head whips up from her play house and she scowls at her Mumma. "No swearing Mumma!" She gets up and runs into the kitchen. She returns with a jar with lots of quarters labelled 'Momma's swear jar'.

"_Language, Santana. Need I remind you that you are now the parent of a innocent child who should not be exposed to such language_!" Rachel scolds.

Santana rolls her eyes and fishes out a quarter and drop it into the jar. Jessica beams happily at her and runs to put the jar back. "Don't preach to me about my own kid, Berry."

"_Is the jar almost full_?" Rachel asks, a teasing tone to her voice and also proving her point to the fiery Latina.

Santana groans. "Yes. This is the fifth one."

Rachel's laughter bubbles through the phone. "_I am so glad that I suggested that to Brittany_."

"It was your idea!"

"_Uh huh."_

"I'm going to get you back. Trust me, when you have your own kid, I'm so going to think of something."

"_You can't think of anything, can you?"_

Santana pauses, knowing that Rachel's got her figured out. She curses under her breath, low enough so her daughter doesn't hear. "How did you find her?" She asks, avoiding the question.

Rachel chuckles, knowing she's called Santana's bluff. "_She was on the street. She looked so lonely and heartbroken, Santana."_

"So you just took her in like a mother hen?"

"_I'm pretty sure that doesn't really work in this-"_

"Just answer the question."

Rachel's sigh sounds through the line. "Yes_, I did. I brought her some new clothes as well_."

"Is she going to pay you back?"

"_I_ _told her not to, but she's already begun job hunting and is promising to pay off every cent_."

Santana nods, already liking this mysterious blonde. She likes it when someone wants to pay off their debt, proves they are trustworthy.

"I want to meet her."

"_What?_"

"I want to meet her. I'll bring Jessica as well."

At the sound of her name, the little girl shoots her head up to look at her Momma and makes her way over to her. She climbs into Santana's lap and grabs hold of the phone. Santana happily hands the phone to her daughter and watches as she attempts to hold the phone in both hands.

"_That would be wonderful Santana! I haven't seen her in a while-"_ Jessica's face lights up at the voice on the other end. Santana rolls her eyes at her daughter, Jessica really took a liking to Rachel and sometimes, Santana thinks she can see Berry in her daughter.

"Aunt Rachel you talk too much_."_ Jessica says, interrupting Rachel.

"_Hi Jessica_." Rachel replies, not at all put off that Jessica interrupted her.

"That's what Momma says to Mom."

"_I'm sure she does."_

"What where you and Momma talking about?"

"_Well, would you like to come round to my house today?"_

Jessica's face instantly lights up and she nods vigorously. Santana chuckles at her daughter and takes the phone back from her.

"She just nodded her head." Santana explains.

"_Oh wonderful! I'll be expecting the two of you soon then_."

"Bye Berry."

"Bye Aunt Rachel!" Jessica shouts, hoping her favourite Aunt hears her.

Santana ends the call and places her phone into her pocket. She looks down at her daughter. "Come on munchkin, we're off to Aunt Rachel's." She says, patting Jessica on her arm.

Jessica jumps off of Santana's lap in excitement and quickly runs to grab her shoes. "Is Aunt Rachel happier, now?" Jessica asks as she attempts to reach for her coat.

Santana grabs the coat for her and puts on her daughter. She crouches down to do up the zip and tie up the laces on Jessica's shoes.

"I think she is."

* * *

Jessica walks slightly ahead of Santana, jumping every puddle she comes across. She occasionally splashes passersby. Some of them look amused by the little girl and others glare. However, one looks at Santana and their glare disappears and they walk a bit faster.

When Jessica jumps in a particularly big puddle, splashing not only herself, but also Santana and a three other people, Santana realises she should have put her daughter in wellies. Brittany is going to kill her when she sees that their daughter's best shoes are now soaked in rain water.

"Jess, honey, stop jumping in the puddles, you're getting your shoes wet." Santana says.

Jessica pauses and looks down. A grimaces graces her face when she finally notices how wet they are and the fact her socks are just as wet. She skips over to her Momma and grabs hold of Santana's hand.

"Will Aunt Rachel be able to give me some socks?" Jessica asks.

Santana smiles. "Most probably."

"Won't they be big on me?"

"Nah." Santana replies with a smirk. They finally reach Rachel's apartment and make their way into the lobby. "She's so tiny her feet are probably the same size as yours."

Jessica giggles. "Aunt Rachel is tall to me."

Santana picks Jessica up and walks into the elevator. She doesn't trust her daughter to not push the emergency stop button because it's something she would have done as a child.

"I know kiddo, but when you get to ten, she'll be the same height as you."

Once again, Santana's comment causes Jessica to fall into a fit of giggles. Even when they reach Rachel's door, Jessica is still giggling at her Momma.

Door swings open to a bright smile and the excited eyes of Rachel Berry. Her eyes immediately fall on the giggling toddler.

"Have you fed her laughing gas?" Rachel asks with a smile.

Santana rolls her eyes. "No, I'm just fucking hysterical."

Jessica is too busy laughing to notice her Momma uttering a curse word. However, Rachel is not and she brings Jessica's attention to this fact.

"Momma! You need to put a quarter in the swear jar when we get home" Jessica scolds, giving her Momma a look that reminds Santana so much of Brittany when she's not happy with Santana.

Santana sighs and places her daughter on the ground. "Say Hello to Aunt Rachel, Jess."

"Hey Aunt Rachel." Jessica says with a smile.

"Give your old aunt a hug." Rachel says. Rachel crouches down and opens up her arms. Immediately, Jessica runs into Rachel's arms and hugs her tightly. Rachel presses a kiss to Jessica's head and lifts the little girl off of the ground. She invites Santana inside and kicks the door closed behind herself.

As Santana makes her way to the kitchen, she catches a glimpse of blonde hair in the sitting room, watching cartoons. She tilts her head to the side, wondering if that is the woman Rachel's been looking for.

Because of her distracting thoughts, Santana doesn't look where she's going and ends up slamming into something in front of her. She hears a grunt and a smash, causing her to look away from the living room.

"Shit, are you okay?" Santana asks the mystery person who's face she has yet to see. She notices the spilled juice and broken glass on the floor. She holds out a hand to help the person up, noticing that they are hissing in pain.

"Jesus fucking Christ." The mystery woman says when Santana pulls her up. Santana notices the woman looking down at her own hand in pain and disgust. Santana looks at her hand and notices blood smeared across her palm.

"Is this yours or mine?" Santana asks.

The woman finally looks up from her hand to Santana. Santana's eyebrow raises in surprise. This woman is insanely beautiful, obviously not as beautiful as her own wife, but still beautiful.

"Mine."

"What was that noise?" Rachel asks as she walks into the kitchen, Jessica still in her arms. When she notices the blood, she quickly covers up Jessica's eyes. "Who's bleeding?" She asks.

"I am" The woman says, holding up her non injured hand.

Rachel glares at Santana. "I leave you for a minute and already you've harmed her?"

Santana puts her hands up in surprise. "I didn't mean to, I wasn't looking where I was going and we collided."

"Aunt Rachel, can I borrow some socks please?" Jessica asks, removing Rachel's hand from her eyes.

Rachel puts Jessica down and blocks her view of the blood. "Sure honey, go help yourself." She says, ushering Jessica away.

"Are you guys okay? I heard a crash." Sam walks in, looking at the three women in concern.

"Samson!" Santana says, making her way over to Sam. "It's good to see you again."

"Santana." Sam says tightly. Santana and Sam's relationship has always been slightly strained what with Santana's constant name calling and Sam having hit on Brittany when he first met her.

"Does it hurt?" Santana hears Rachel ask the blonde woman as she gingerly holds her hand.

"Like a bitch." The woman says with a soft smile. Rachel playfully hits the woman and softly scolds her.

Santana smirks. "So this is the famous Quinn then?" She asks, walking over to the pair. "Santana Lopez, Rachel's best friend." She holds out her hand to Quinn.

Quinn looks from Santana's hand to her face. She smiles tightly through her pain. "I'd shake your hand, but..." She nods to the hand Rachel is slowly cleaning.

"Sam, can you clean up the glass and juice please?" Rachel asks, not taking her eyes off of Quinn's hand. She grimaces when she wipes away the blood and finally sees the huge cut on Quinn's palm.

Sam does as Rachel's told and runs off to get the dust pan and broom. Santana snorts at the action.

"Since when has Sam done what you've asked him."

"He's my boyfriend, of course he's going to do what I ask."

Santana's eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. "He's not your-"

The look Rachel sends her immediately shuts the Latina up. With her eyes, Rachel gestures to the distracted blonde, who is watching Rachel clean her hand, and silently tells Santana she'll talk about it later.

"You're cut quite bad." Rachel says. "We should get you to a hospital."

"I've got the socks!" Jessica says, running into the kitchen.

All three women look over to the little girl and chuckle. Despite what Santana said, Jessica is much smaller than Rachel and therefore the socks she's wearing are too big and make her looks like she had floppy clown feet. Jessica's eyes, however, are focused on the blonde standing beside Rachel.

"Who's she?" She asks, pointing at Quinn.

"Don't point." Santana scolds, pushing her Daughter's hand down.

"Jess, this is my friend Quinn. Quinn, this is Santana's daughter, Jessica."

Jessica waves shyly at Quinn, keeping her gaze on her feet. Quinn grins at the shy girl.

"It's lovely to meet you Jessica." Quinn says, causing Jessica to look up from her clown sock covered feet. She grins at Quinn and rocks on her heels.

"I'm three and a half years old." She says, holding up her hand to show Quinn the numbers on her fingers.

Quinn removes her hand from Rachel's and walks over to Jessica and crouches down at her height. Sam comes running in with the broom and begins to clean up the glass.

"Wow, three and a half? You're so old!" Quinn says with shock. "You're almost as old as me!"

"How old are you?"

"Jess-"

"It's okay." Quinn says, glancing up at Santana with a smile. Santana awkwardly smiles back and with Rachel, watches the blonde interact with her daughter.

"I'm twenty four."

Jessica's eyes widen comically at Quinn's words. "Wow...you're really old."

Quinn chuckles. "Not as old as you do."

"Yuh huh." Jessica replies, nodding her head.

"Nuh uh."

"Yuh huh."

"Nuh uh."

"Yuh-"

"Okay if you children are done arguing," Rachel says, breaking up the childish argument between Quinn and Jessica. Both Quinn and Jessica blush and giggle. "We need to get Quinn to the hospital."

Jessica looks at Quinn in shock. "Are you dying?" Jessica asks.

Quinn stands up and shrugs. "Dunno, I might be."

Immediately, Jessica wraps her arms around Quinn's legs. "Don't die!"

Santana looks down at her daughter in shock, as do Rachel and Quinn. Sam hasn't seemed to have heard as he's too busy whistling to himself whilst he mops up the spilled juice.

"Don't worry, I won't. I'm invincible." Quinn says.

Jessica pulls back and looks up at Quinn with wide eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"I know right."

"Quinn, we really need to get you to the hospital." Rachel says, placing a hand on Quinn's arm.

Santana's eyes lock onto the subtle way that Rachel rubs her thumb across the skin on Quinn's arm and how Quinn swallows ever so subtly at the touch. It's times like these that Santana is so incredibly glad that she's a lawyer. Part of being a lawyer isn't just knowing the case and fighting for your side, it's also looking at the subtle things. Any subtle change in body language, any small quirk of the lips or fast glance can either get Santana to win or lose a case. So, in order to never lose a case, Santana takes to closely studying her client's and the accused/defendant's body language and all those around her. Anything can clue her into some new information.

And the body language she sees between Quinn and Rachel makes her grin.

They are so into each other.

* * *

Santana watches her daughter play with the Duplo set left at the children's table. She's watched her daughter try to build the largest tower she could out of the Duplo before it collapses. That was really amusing as it caused the old man across from Santana to jump at least five feet out of his seat. Now she's making what appears to be a microphone. Santana rolls her eyes, fucking Berry and her musical ways.

Rachel's hand comes into view, holding out a steaming cup of coffee. Santana gratefully takes the coffee and has a sip, wincing at the bitter flavour that all hospital coffee's seem to have.

"Have you been making her watch your bloody musicals again?" Santana asks Rachel when the smaller woman sits herself down.

Rachel looks over at Jessica and beams proudly at her little creation. "I haven't been making her. She's always selected them. Be glad it's musicals and not gangster films."

Santana scoffs. "Like you have gangster films in your DVD collection." She says, looking over to Rachel.

Rachel stares at her for a moment, her eyes narrowing before she mutters: "That's not the point." From behind her coffee cup.

Santana chuckles at her friend. Her fingers tap against the polystyrene cup in time to the song playing through the speakers. "Any news on Squatter Girl?" Santana asks.

Rachel glares at Santana. "Don't call her that. And No, all they are telling me is that she needs stitches, they won't say anymore."

"I don't understand what's taking so long. It's not like she's dying."

"Santana, we're in A&E on a Saturday. Apart from New Years and Christmas, Saturday is the day with the highest percentage rate of people coming to A&E."

Santana huffs. "This is ridiculous." She eyes Rachel cautiously. "Why are you so calm? I'd expect you to be blowing up a storm."

Rachel smiles down at her coffee cup. "I'm calm because I know she's okay."

Santana looks over at Jessica as sees she's still happily playing with the duplo.

"So, when did you and Sam start dating? Oh wait, hang on, when did you go straight?"

Rachel looks over at Santana, clearly unimpressed with the taller woman. (Though she is only a few inches taller.) "First of all, you can't 'go straight' and secondly, Emma told me to inform Quinn of my relationship with Sam."

"You mean your PR one?"

Rachel quickly shushes Santana and looks around, hoping no one heard her. "Don't shout that out!" She scolds quietly. "Yes I do mean that."

"Why?"

"Emma does not trust Quinn to not spill the beans."

Santana blanches slightly. "What? Has she even met her?"

"Once. It was very brief."

"That woman has trust issues."

"She's just doing her job, Santana. And she's protecting mine."

"I thought Emma was your friend as well."

"Yes."

"So then why is she encouraging you to hide behind a..." Santana looks around before lowering her voice to a whisper. "Fake relationship, when you could be in a real one with someone who obviously makes you happy which I have yet to understand why."

"To protect my career!"

"That's bull shit Rachel and you know it. You live in New York, your career originated here. Apart from San Francisco, I'd say New York is the most gay pride friendly state there is. They would probably stand on the top of the Empire state building waving their LGBT flags if they could."

"Santana, please."

"No! I've watched you mope around this city for two years. I've watched you be unhappy even though you had everything you've ever dreamed of. This is your chance to be happy and instead you're hiding behind your Manager who only cares about herself! I'm sorry Rachel but don't expect me to be happy about that."

Rachel glares at Santana who only glares back. Rachel huffs and turns away, angrily sipping on her coffee.

"Don't hate me for wanting you to be happy."

* * *

Two hours later and Quinn finally greets them in the waiting room with a newly stitched hand and a...lollipop?

Almost immediately, Rachel is out of her seat and over to Quinn, firing questions at her. Did it hurt? How long will she have the stitches for? Will it scar?

Quinn doesn't seem to be listening to her but is instead, looking around the room. Santana cocks her head to the side when Quinn spots Jessica and walks over to her.

"Jess." Quinn says, gaining the little girl's attention.

Jessica looks up from the colouring book she was scribbling in and grins widely. She abandons the colouring book and wraps her arms around Quinn's legs. "You're back!"

Quinn laughs and pulls the little girl away from her legs. She crouches down to Jess's eye level."I have something for you."

"What is it?"

Quinn looks around her as if it's something top secret. "Don't tell your Momma, but I was able to grab this for you. Be careful, it's super special." She presents Jessica with the red lollipop she had in her hand, laughing when Jessica squeals and happily takes the lollipop.

"How is it special?"

"It gives you special powers." Quinn whispers, put her hand up by the side of her mouth.

"Like what?"

"Like...being super fast."

"Wow. Thank you."

"No problem."

Jessica looks at Quinn's hand. "Is your hand okay?"

Quinn holds it up, presenting the stitches in her hand. "It's fine."

"Will it scar?"

Quinn nods. "Yeah, it will be really cool, like a war scar."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not even the slightest, you want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I had a green lollipop when I was waiting. They make you super strong." Quinn says.

She glances up at Rachel and Santana. She's surprised to see a kind look on Santana's face and even more surprised to see an adoring look on Rachel's. Quinn shakes away the thought of the look being directed at her. Of course it isn't, it's towards Jessica.

"Wow."

"Maybe, if you're really good, I'll let you touch it when it's healed."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Jessica grins and skips over to Santana. "Momma, look what Quinn gave me!" She says, showing Santana the red lollipop.

Quinn rolls her eyes affectionately and stands up. Rachel walks over to her and smiles. "She wasn't meant to tell her." Quinn says with a small pout.

Rachel laughs at the blonde's expression. "She's only a little girl, she's going to tell her everything."

Quinn looks over at Jessica and Santana. Just like Rachel said, Jessica is now filling Santana in with everything that Quinn told her, jumping on the spot in excitement. Santana grins at her little girl, occasionally looking over at the blonde as her daughter talks her ear off.

"I think Jessica likes you." Rachel says as they begin to walk out of the hospital.

"She's a good kid."

"She is."

Quinn and Rachel stand by Rachel's car, waiting for Santana to put Jessica in her car seat. Once she's done, the three of them begin to get into their own seats.

"Barbie!" Santana calls out.

Quinn stops her movements and looks at Santana from over the hood of the car.

"She wants you to sit next to her." Santana says, making her way round the car to Quinn.

Quinn obliges and sits herself down in the seat beside Jessica who immediately starts chatting away to Quinn about anything and everything.

Santana shakes her head and sits down in the passenger seat. Rachel smiles at her from the driver's side.

"Looks like Jessica's found herself a new friend." Rachel says.

Santana looks at Jessica and her new friend through the rear-view mirror.

"Yeah, she has."

* * *

**Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this chapter. Hopefully I will have the next one up soon!**

**xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello! I'm sorry for the late update, I struggled to find time to write this chapter. Hopefully it has turned out okay. I personally had fun writing it.**

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews. I'm glad you don't like Emma, she is the antagonist of this story and you will see some of her in this chapter :P**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. The immature mind often mistakes one for the other, or assumes that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy - in fact, they are almost incompatible; one emotion hardly leaves room for the other." _  
― Robert A. Heinlein, _Stranger in a Strange Land._

Quinn sits at the kitchen island, staring at her scarred hand. She had the stitches taken out two days ago and can't stop running her finger over the fresh scar. The skin is smoother than the rest of her hand and is paler. It almost glistens in the light. Unlike Jessica, who demanded that she be the first one to touch Quinn's scar when she and Santana came over yesterday, Quinn didn't find the scar all that fascinating. She's used to having scars and marks on her body and so she's used to it. However, she did gain those scars over something completely.

The thought brings tears to Quinn's eyes so she quickly shakes them away and drops her hand down beside her bowl of fruit loops. She doesn't lift her eyes from her bowl when she hears the front door close and feet pad over to her. What does cause her to look up is the gentle hand placed on her shoulder and the following kiss placed on her cheek. Her eyes meet the sparkling happy ones of Rachel. Rachel's nose and cheeks are red from the cold weather as well as the top of her ears. Quinn can't help but smile at the woman.

Rachel beams back at her and skips over to the fridge, immediately informing Quinn of her day out with Sam. Quinn bites back the bile rising in her throat and pushes away the jealousy clawing at her back.

Rachel's really been confusing her lately.

Ever since they came back from the hospital, Rachel's been very...how can Quinn describe it?...touchy-feely with her. It seems like Rachel will find an excuse to touch Quinn in some way, if it's a kiss on the cheek like a few minutes ago or even if it's only just a brush of their hands. Now, Quinn's not sure if she's imagining it or not, but it seems like with these touches, Rachel's trying to hint at something with her.

Why is she confused, you ask?

Because Rachel is with Sam. Rachel talks to Quinn about Sam, Quinn sees them interact like a couple, sharing pecks on the lips and cheeks and cuddling on the settee. They go on frequent dates with each other and Rachel will ask Quinn for advice on Sam. But whilst she does all this, once again, Quinn's not sure if she's imagining it or not, Rachel will look over at Quinn, she will still find a way to be near Quinn or touch her. Quinn's pretty sure she once saw Rachel check her out when Quinn exited the bathroom to go to the guest bedroom.

So, you're probably just as confused as Quinn is right now.

"...The ducks were so cute, Quinn. The baby chicks were waddling behind the Mumma duck like this."

Quinn looks over at Rachel, having been shaken from the thoughts and watches in amusement as Rachel proceeds to imitate the baby ducklings, even throwing in a few quacks here and there.

Rachel sits herself down beside Quinn, her hand falling to rest on Quinn's pyjama clad thigh. There, that action right there. That is an example of her need to touch Quinn.

Now, Quinn isn't complaining, she likes the fact that Rachel finds excuses to touch her. However, it's the fact that Rachel is with Sam that makes Quinn uncomfortable.

Quinn subtly shifts her thigh away from Rachel, causing the small hand to fall to the Diva's side. Rachel doesn't seem to notice the movement and continues to gush about the baby ducklings. Quinn nods and smiles, continuing to eat her cereal.

Quinn notices the way Rachel's eyes flicker down to Quinn's lips as she chews on her cereal several times. The smirk on the brunette's face causes Quinn to swallow her mouthful of food nervously. Her nerves only build more when Rachel's tongue pokes out between her lips and slowly wets them.

What happens next, Quinn will never forget.

As if in slow motion, Rachel leans forward, her eyes flicking between Quinn's and her lips. As the brunette gets closer, Quinn closes her eyes. Then, she feels the softest of touches against her bottom lip. Her eyebrows furrow together when the touch swipes to the left and leaves her face.

Fluttering her eyes open, Quinn notices a small piece of a green fruit loop resting on Rachel's thumb.

Embarrassment floods through Quinn like water at an open water gate. She feels her cheeks become hot and looks away from the smiling brown eyes of Rachel. She hears Rachel chuckle at Quinn's embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, but it was really frustrating me." Rachel says, wiping the piece of fruit loop onto a nearby kitchen towel.

"Don't be embarrassed, Quinn." Rachel once again places her hand onto Quinn's thigh. Quinn quickly moves her eyes to look down at the hand. "Everyone has misplaced food on their face at least once in their life." Rachel says with a kind tone.

Quinn pushes away from the island and stands up, her eyes staying locked on the wall in front of her. "I best get job hunting." Quinn says, moving as fast as she can away from Rachel to the sink. She rinses her bowl and places it in the dishwasher. She takes a few deep breathes to calm her burning cheeks down.

"No need, I've found you a job!" Rachel says. Quinn hears her get up and walk over to her.

Quinn slowly turns around to face the diva. "Really?"

Rachel nods. "It's my old job." Rachel bites her lip. "But they don't know that they've hired you."

"What?"

"They will as soon as you go get dressed, now go!" Rachel says, pushing a very confused Quinn off towards her bedroom.

* * *

"We don't need to hire anyone, Rachel."

"I know you don't Paul, but she really needs a job." Rachel rushes out in a hushed whisper that she thinks Quinn can't hear. But Quinn can.

Quinn rolls her eyes at their attempted quiet conversation and lazily gazes at the café Rachel dragged her to. As soon as they left the apartment, Rachel had attached their arms together in a strong arm lock. Every time Quinn tried to remove her arm, she'd end up failing. Rachel is a lot stronger than she looks. It was like fighting a clamp.

"I'm sorry Rachel we can't help you."

"Paul, who was the employee you trusted the most?"

Quinn shifts a little and chances a glance over her shoulder to the brunette arguing with the tall balding man. She notices how Paul seems to deflate and a soft smile graces his face.

"You."

"So would you trust me when I say that she will be the best person to hire?"

Paul sighs and rubs his bald spot on his head. His eyes lock with Quinn's and the blonde quickly looks away, acting nonchalant.

"Fine." Paul relents.

Quinn smiles at the small squeak of excitement Rachel releases at Paul's words.

"But she has to work overtime and prove to me that you were correct and I was clever about trusting you."

"Of course."

"She starts tomorrow."

Across the room, Quinn's eyes connect with the eyes of another woman. She's watching Quinn closely over the top of her coffee cup. Quinn tilts her head to the side slightly, noticing the smile on the woman's face that is partially hidden by the coffee cup in her hand.

"Aren't you glad I'm your roommate?" Rachel asks, grabbing hold of Quinn's arm and taking the blonde's attention away from the woman sitting opposite her.

Quinn smiles at Rachel and allows the brunette to guide her out of the shop. "I guess so." Quinn says. She tries to remove her arm again, but Rachel only tightens her grip.

"You only guess so?" Rachel asks in mock shock.

Quinn's breathe hitches when she feels Rachel move her hand down to the one in Quinn's pocket. She tries to calm down her breathing as Rachel runs her finger over the scar on her hand.

"Y-yeah. Like I've said before, we only know the basic information about each other, how do I know you're not a serial killer?" Quinn asks, glancing at Rachel with a smile.

Rachel hums and tilts her head. "I guess you're right."

As Quinn turns to walk down the street towards the apartment, Rachel tugs Quinn back and turns them in the opposite direction.

"Oh no, you're taking me to the place where you kill your victims!" Quinn says in fake horror.

Rachel laughs. "No, we're just taking a little detour."

Quinn nods and allows Rachel to guide them. "Why the detour?" She asks after they've been walking in silence for a while.

"Maybe we can get to know each other a bit more, finish the game of twenty questions we didn't finish the other day?"

They step through the gates into Central Park and are instantly surrounded by craziness of Central Park. Since coming to the city, Quinn always wished to come to Central Park, but never had the guts to do so. She always feared she get kicked out because of her being homeless.

She always knew it would be amazing walking into Central Park. But it's even more amazing walking into Central Park with Rachel Berry on her arm.

Instantly, Quinn is distracted with the activities going on. Everything she expected to happen in Central Park is happening right in front of her eyes. Couples are sat on the grass with picnic baskets, happily feeding each other or reading to one another. Families play by the pond whilst children run around each other, happily kicking the water up into the air. She passes vender after vender. Balloons, balloon animals, hotdogs, coffee and even an ice cream man. It's in the middle of winter and there is a man selling ice cream in central park.

Quinn feels her fingers twitch, she really wishes she has some sort of camera with her. There's so many moments they are passing that she could – no - physically needs to capture. She needs to feel a camera in her hands and hear the comforting click of the shutter as the lens captures the photo that can speak of many moments.

Quinn doesn't even notice that Rachel has led them to an empty bench until she feels herself get pulled down onto the wooden seat. She finally takes her eyes away from the scenery around her to look at the amused eyes of Rachel.

"You look like a child in a candy store and unlimited money." Rachel says with slight amusement.

Quinn chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah, sorry. This is just my first time being here."

"What? You've been in New York for a while and you have never come to Central Park?"

Quinn shrugs and shuffles backwards. "No."

"Why?"

Quinn stares at Rachel for a few seconds. She licks her lips and looks away from the brunette. "I have my reasons."

Quinn notices Rachel's sigh of dejection but chooses to ignore it. She's not comfortable enough with Rachel to delve into that part of her life. It took Puck and Finn a while to get Quinn's story out of her and when they finally did, both of them realised why it took her so long. It ripped open old scars for her.

Quinn remembers the night she told Puck and Finn as clear as the sky is today. After telling them her story, she took one single breath and then burst into tears. All the way through her re-telling her past, Quinn had managed to hold it all together. But as soon as she had finished, it felt like her world just crumpled down in on her and she let the tears she had been holding in for so many years fall. And as Quinn cried, Puck and Finn only held her. They didn't say a single word to her, all they did was wrap her up into their arms and let her cry, cry away all her pain and sadness.

However, not all of her pain is gone and the scars she had opened to them are still fairly new. She's not ready to tell all. Not yet.

"Quinn?"

"Yeah?" Quinn replies through a sniff. She doesn't look over at Rachel and instead focuses her attention on the kids crowding around for a balloon.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Quinn lies, momentarily looking at Rachel before looking away once again.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped any boundaries, that wasn't my attention."

Finally, Quinn looks over at Rachel and offers her a weak smile. "It's fine."

Rachel licks her lips and nods. "How about we ask questions just below the surface, today? And we limit to only two?" At Quinn's nods, Rachel grins. "You can start."

"Why Broadway?"

Quinn notices the way Rachel blanches at the question. If someone informs Quinn of their dream, Quinn always asks why. Why do they have that dream? Not in a spiteful way, not at all. She just wishes to know what it is about that dream that makes it their dream. Quinn has a million examples of why it's her dream to become a photographer and she can speak to you for hours about why. So, Quinn always wonders, if she's able to speak for a long time about her dream, then surely others can as well?

Quinn turns her body until her and Rachel's knees are touching.

"Ever since I was young, I always wanted to be a star and be heard. I wanted to break away from the dorky, obnoxious big nosed Rachel Berry I was in Lima Ohio and become someone meaningful."

The blonde connects her eyes to Rachel's, keeping eye contact with the other woman as she speaks.

"Okay, but why Broadway? Why not go into acting or singing or dancing? Why did you pick something that uses all three."

Rachel's eyes drift away from Quinn's to something over Quinn's shoulder. Quinn waits patiently, noticing the far off look in Rachel's eyes.

Finally, Rachel's eyes focus back on Quinn and she gives the blonde a small smile. "When I was younger, my Fathers sat me down in front of the TV and played me '_Funny Girl_' for the first time. I was instantly transfixed. I knew from the moment Barbra Streisand began to sing '_Don't Rain On My Parade'_ that I was interested in Musicals. From that moment, I began to watch every musical I could get my hands on. I got every poster, every album and every play bill I could. I took dance lessons and singing lessons, wanting to be just like the women I saw on my Television. It was only when my Daddy, Leroy, took me to see Wicked on stage, here in New York, that I realised that Broadway was my dream, my destiny. I got such a rush from just watching Elphaba sing '_Defying Gravity_' that I began to wonder, what would it feel like _actually_ being on that stage, knowing you're inspiring loads of little girls and boys like myself. Ever since then, my eyes had been set on Broadway."

A huge grin pulls up on Quinn's face. That's it. That's what she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear the passion in Rachel's voice as she spoke of her dream, she wanted to see the burning fire in her eyes as she remembered her dream, thought about it. It gives her the chills. Especially knowing Rachel has achieved her dream.

"You've achieved it. Excellently, I have heard." Quinn replies with a grin.

"You'll achieve yours Quinn, I know it." Rachel says, grabbing hold of Quinn's hand. Quinn gives her a weak smile, knowing the possibility of Quinn becoming a well known photographer is low. "My turn."

Quinn nods and once again waits patiently as Rachel thinks.

Rachel sets very serious eyes on Quinn. It's now her turn to stop Quinn from looking away, to keep their gazes locked.

"Would you rather be alone or lonely?"

"Alone." Quinn answers without thinking. Without giving Rachel to ask her follow up question, Quinn continues. "When you're alone, it tends to be by choice. You can choose to be alone. You can be in a big group of people and decide to walk away and be on your own for a while because when you're alone, you're not really lonely. But when you're lonely..." Quinn sighs and looks away from Rachel.

"When you're lonely, it's more often than not, not by choice. Unlike being alone, when you're lonely, you can stand in a group full of your friends and family and feel out of place. You will feel like you don't belong amongst them and you will feel alone. Loneliness is one of the worst things to feel, I think. Because you're more likely to escape being alone than you are being lonely."

Quinn notices the tears in Rachel's eyes. Rachel blinks rapidly and clears her throat, wiping away the tears that started to fall.

"Sounds like you've had experience." Rachel says softly.

Quinn licks her lips and looks down at her hands. "I have. All my ideas come from experience." An uncomfortable silence falls between the pair. "We should get back to the apartment." Quinn says, quickly getting up.

Rachel nods at her and silently gets up and walks beside Quinn on their way home.

* * *

"What is this!"

Quinn and Rachel's heads snap up from the TV to the angry, older blonde storming into Rachel's apartment.

When they had gotten back, the girl's settled on the settee and decided to watch the TV together. Quinn's body was-and is-hyper aware of how close Rachel is sitting to her and the hand that is softly caressing her thigh.

Rachel's hand moves from Quinn's thigh and she gets up to face the angry woman. Quinn frowns at the loss of contact but wordlessly watches Rachel approach the blonde.

"What's got you so angry, Emma?" Rachel asks, taking slow steps towards her manager.

"What's got me so-This is what's got me so angry!" Emma shouts, thrusting a magazine into Rachel's hands.

Quinn tires to stretch her neck to see, but unfortunately Rachel's side is angled in Quinn's line of sight and is blocking her view of the magazine. She bites her lip, watching Rachel's reaction. The brunette bites her lip in an anxious way and gingerly looks up at her fuming manager.

Quinn clears her throat, gaining the attention of both women. Emma looks slightly shocked at seeing Quinn, obviously only having just noticed her. Her expression soon turns sour and she tilts her head up so she's looking down at her nose at Quinn. Oh, Quinn does not like that. She does not like that one bit.

"What's on the magazine?" Quinn asks, standing up.

Emma's eyes turn to slits. Rachel holds out the magazine for Quinn to take, but before the blonde can grab hold of it, Emma snatches it away. "Not that it's any of your business, it's a photo of you and Rachel."

Having gotten a glance of it, Quinn had spotted the photo of her and Rachel walking through Central Park with their arms interlocked. However, she did not get to read the captions surrounding the photograph.

"I believe it to be my business if I am in the photo." Quinn replies heatedly. She folds her arms across her chest and glares at Emma, not wanting to let this bitch bite at her.

Emma's lips curl up in anger, as if she's a pit-bull baring her teeth at Quinn. "Listen here you little bitch-"

"Hey." Rachel says, causing Emma's eyes to snap away from Quinn. "Quinn has every right to know about the photo so _don't_ snap at her."

The blonde pit-bull growls. "This is to do with yours and Sam's _relationship_, Rachel, not your dirty Roommate."

Having enough of this woman, Quinn sighs, exasperated with her and throws her hands up into the air. "I'll just leave you two alone." She says and walks away from the Diva and her manager to her room.

As soon as her door closes, Quinn hears Emma and Rachel begin to chat rather loudly at each other.

Feeling her anger rising at the mere thought of Rachel's bitchy manager, Quinn begins to pace, trying to set her mind on something else in order to calm herself down. She hates this angry side of her, little things like someone being rude to her can get Quinn riled up. As much as she hates to admit it, Quinn knows she got her anger from her Father. The thought makes her feel physically sick.

She _never_ wants to be like that man.

Quinn thinks back to the touches Rachel has been doing. She thinks to every look Rachel has directed her way, the friendly ones...the flirtatious ones. But then she remembers Sam's arms around her shoulders as she sent these looks. She remembers the way Rachel would squeal and jump into Sam's arms in excitement.

She needs to stop this, stop hanging onto the lingering touches and the intense stares. Rachel is with Sam and Quinn needs to come to terms with that fact. She needs to get over her.

Fuelled with anger and agony, Quinn grabs her coat and storms out of her room. She barely has time to take note on the fact that Emma is gone but Sam is now here. If she did, it would have only angered her more. She doesn't even register Rachel calling out her name as she rushes out of the apartment and into the elevator.

Once on the ground floor, Quinn marches out into the buzzing night of New York and into a nearby cab, not caring that another Man was about to get into the same cab.

"Where to?"

Quinn looks up at the apartment, her chest heaving as she gains her breath back. She catches Rachel's shadow hurry about the apartment. Taking her eyes away from the window, she stares at the curious eyes of the cab driver through the rear-view mirror.

"Any club in New York."

* * *

The loud knocking sounding through the apartment rouses Rachel from her sleep. She blinks blearily around her room, feeling the dried tears on her cheeks move with the muscles of her face. She ignores the hurried knocking and takes time to think back to last night. She remembers Emma storming in, she remembers the magazine, Quinn going to her room, Sam coming over and then Quinn leaving in a hurried state.

The way Quinn had left last night panicked Rachel. She started to run around the apartment like a headless chicken, fear rising within her that Quinn has left again and all because of the photo on the magazine. Sam had eventually calmed Rachel down, but he was not able to stop the tears as every worst possible thought Rachel could have about why Quinn left passed through her brain.

Eventually, after three hours of non-stop crying, Rachel had fallen asleep. She guesses Sam carried her in here before he left.

The knock becomes louder and Rachel groans. She gets up from the bed and makes her way out of the room to the front door.

Before opening the door, Rachel peaks over her shoulder to Quinn's room. The door is closed. This worries Rachel because during the weeks Quinn has spent her, the blonde has never fully closed the door. It's always been slightly a jar.

With a sigh, Rachel opens the door, only to have her eyes widen when she remembers a specific promise she had made.

"What took you so long?" Sparkling blue eyes smile at her.

"Hello Brittany."

"Hey Aunt Rachel!"

Rachel looks down at Jessica and grins. "Hello Sweetie." She looks over at Brittany, the second member of Jess's parental unit.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Brittany asks with a grin. Rachel only nods in reply and steps aside to let the taller woman and her daughter walk into the apartment. Brittany gestures for Rachel to follow her into the kitchen.

Rachel does so and sits herself down behind the counter. Jessica situates herself beside Rachel, grinning up at her non-relative Aunt.

"Have you had your coffee yet?" Brittany asks, her back turned to Rachel and her daughter.

"No."

"That explains why, then." Brittany says, turning round with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. She pushes it across the counter to Rachel.

"I'm sorry, Brittany. Normally I do remember that I get to care for Jess today, but a lot has happened-" Brittany holds out a hand to stop Rachel from talking.

Brittany smiles kindly at Rachel. "It's fine, Rach. Santana has been filling me in with everything. So, you finally found her?"

Rachel nods glumly.

"Why the sad face?" Brittany asks, tipping her head to the side.

Rachel breathes in deeply and takes a sip from her mug. "She stormed out last night and I have no idea why."

"She probably spilt something and was angry at herself." Jessica says from beside Rachel, gaining the women's attention.

Brittany smiles at her daughter, as does Rachel. "No Honey, this was something else." Rachel gently explains.

Jessica shrugs. "That's all I got."

Rachel and Brittany laugh at the little girl. "Thank you for your suggestion, Baby." Brittany says before turning to look at Rachel. "I'm sure it was nothing. She'd be silly to leave anyway, you're amazing Rach."

Rachel blushes at Brittany's compliment and looks down at her coffee. "How's the Soup Kitchen? Santana told me you're thinking of selling it."

"No not sell it, just make someone else the Manager. I'm struggling to work there and at the Dance Studio."

"Oh."

"I also lost some of my favourite regulars a few months back. They used to come in almost every day until one day they stopped." Brittany says with a frown. She shrugs. "I kinda saw them as my friends."

"Brittany, you saw everyone in the soup kitchen as your friend. You developed relationships with every single one of them, that's why you've always got regulars."

"Yeah but they weren't just my friends, they were my best friends."

The sound of a door opening causes the two women and the little girl to turn their heads. Rachel's eyes widen and her mouth falls open when a very naked, very beautiful brunette woman walks out of the room and makes her way into the kitchen.

Rachel looks at Brittany who's face is a mirror image of Rachel's. With a gasp, Rachel quickly covers Jessica's eyes, her own eyes not leaving the naked woman in her kitchen.

The woman locks eyes with Rachel. Once again, a gasp escapes Rachel. That's the woman who was watching Quinn in that damn coffee place. Jealousy and anger boils within Rachel as she glares at the curvy woman. This woman slowly reaches forward and grabs hold of Rachel's coffee cup, her eyes never leaving Rachel's as she takes a sip.

"Hi, I'm Rebecca." The naked brunette says to Rachel and Brittany. She holds her hand out to the smaller, clothed brunette.

Rachel feels Jessica grab at her hand and push it away, only to have Brittany's hand replace Rachel's.

Rachel closes her mouth and clears her throat. "Rachel." She growls, shaking Rebecca's hand.

"I know. Q told me about you." Rebecca says, smirking at Rachel from over the mug. "We got very...close last night."

_Q_? She calls Quinn, _Q_? Exactly how close did they get. Rachel mentally rolls her eyes at herself. She knows exactly how close they got last night.

Rachel nods. "Do you mind putting on some clothes, please?" Rachel asks, her eyes drifting down to the woman's exposed chest. She quickly realises what she's doing and looks back up to the smug looking woman. Rachel does not like her. Not at all. "There is a little girl here."

"She's going to have the same as us soon enough, it's best if she sees what she's going to get." Rebecca says with a shrug.

"She's three." Brittany speaks up, her eyes narrowing at the woman.

"All the more reason."

Rachel closes her eyes and breathes heavily. She won't let this woman get to her. She knows what Rebecca is doing, she's trying to annoy Rachel. Although she had succeeded the moment she grabbed hold of Rachel's cup, Rachel is not going to let her know that.

When Rachel opens her eyes, her determination goes. By the smug, accomplished look Rebecca is giving her, something tells Rachel that Rebecca already knows how annoyed Rachel is.

Before Rachel can say anything, a groan from the door way of Quinn's room takes away her attention. Quinn stands in her doorway – not naked like her bed mate (unfortunately) - and stretches, causing the hoodie she is wearing to rise up her stomach and reveal smooth, toned skin between her hoodie and sweatpants to Rachel and Rebecca.

Rebecca and Rachel make eye contact as Quinn makes her way over to the two of them, a sleepy smile on her face. Rachel's eyes narrow at the wolfish smile on Rebecca's face, and follow her as the naked women sets down Rachel's mug and turns to Quinn. Rachel's too busy watching Rebecca that she doesn't notice Quinn's curious and loving eyes on her.

Rebecca grabs hold of Quinn's hips and pulls their bodies flush together before setting her lips upon Quinn's.

Bile rises up in Rachel's throat at the sight of this..._slut_ sticking her tongue down Quinn's throat. Quite forcefully, actually. However, Rachel notices Quinn's hands trying to dislodge the hands on her hips and she grins. Obviously, Quinn isn't exactly enjoying this woman's company now that she's sober.

Finally, Rebecca pulls away from Quinn and grins flirtatiously. Rachel watches as her hands slowly run up under Quinn's hoodie. "Good morning."

Rachel notices a blush rise on Quinn's cheeks and the blonde awkwardly looks over at Rachel before looking back at Rebecca.

"Quinn, do you mind making your _friend_ here," Rachel growls through gritted teeth "go put some clothes on. We have an innocent child here today."

Quinn nods and seems to finally notice Jessica sitting on the stall, a hand covering her eyes. Rebecca, having realised she's lost Quinn's attention growls and walks off into the bedroom. Rachel does a silent cheer of victory.

"Brittany?"

"Quinn?"

Rachel looks between the two blonde women wearing the same matching expressions of shock. Brittany's hand slowly falls from Jessica's eyes and she slowly walks over to Quinn, blinking owlishly at her.

Then they hug like old friends.

"I haven't seen you in so long, where have you been?" Brittany asks into Quinn's shoulder.

"I know. Recently, I've been here." Quinn replies, pulling out of Brittany's hug. "But before...it was rough."

"Puck and Finn-"

"They're gone." Quinn replies glumly.

Rachel's eyebrows furrow together. Puck and Finn? Who are they?

Brittany nods then looks down at her watch. "I've got to go, but we have to catch up soon, okay?" When Quinn nods, Brittany pulls her into another hug before skipping over to her daughter and placing a kiss on her head. "You be good to Auntie Rachel, okay?"

Jessica nods. "Yes Mummy."

"If there's any problems, just ring either me or Santana." Brittany says to Rachel who smiles and nods with an 'of course' before guiding Brittany out of the apartment.

"Quinn."

Rachel rolls her eyes at the cringe worthy seductive tone Rebecca uses and turns around. With only a pair of knickers on (so more covered up than before), Rebecca stands at Quinn's door, using her index finger to beckon Quinn over to her. Jealousy burns within Rachel as she watches Quinn start to make her way to her.

"Uh Quinn." Rachel calls out before she can stop herself. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" She asks, trying to keep the anger out of her voice, her eyes glaring at Rebecca from over Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn looks back at Rebecca and holds up a finger before making her way to Rachel. Rachel glares at Rebecca until the woman rolls her eyes and turns back into Quinn's room. Rachel then looks at Jessica and grins.

"Jessica, why don't you go watch some cartoons?" She says. Jessica grins and jumps off the stool and runs into the living room, leaving Quinn and Rachel alone.

Quinn watches the little girl run out of sight before turning to look at Rachel. "What's up?" She asks casually, her eyes looking towards Rachel, but not at her.

"I don't appreciate you bringing home women from whatever sleazy bar you go to. There is a child in the house and she does not need to see that." Rachel says, pointing at Quinn's closed door.

Quinn raises an eyebrow at her. "First of all: Why do you care about who I bring home? And Secondly: How was I supposed to know Jess would be here today?"

Rachel seethes at Quinn's words. "I care because I do not wish to see naked women walking around my apartment. I accept the fact you do not know that every Monday I look after Jessica and so excuse you for that."

"You're acting like I've brought home many women. I brought home a woman. Singular. Not Plural. Why does it bother you so much? You have Sam."

"That doesn't matter! You still brought one home!" Rachel says, becoming angry. She's angry at the fact she wasn't the one to walk out of Quinn's bedroom door, she's angry that she's not the one that Quinn brought home last night and she's angry at the fact it was fucking Rebecca that Quinn did bring home and walk out of Quinn's bedroom.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" Quinn asks, her own anger rising.

"It just does!"

"It shouldn't matter to you! I'm not your girlfriend, Rachel. I'm your roommate. It isn't any business of yours to say this to me like it's no business of mine to tell you to keep Sam away from the apartment!"

'_I'm not your girlfriend'_

The words sting Rachel like venom. She feels her heart contract at the four words.

"Just stop doing it!" Rachel replies, not knowing what else to say.

"Give me one good reason why, Rachel. One reason and I will." The change of tone in Quinn's voice shocks her. Her voice has gone from angry to soft and vulnerable.

Quinn looks straight at Rachel, her eyes pleading with her. But pleading for what?

Rachel knows this is her chance to tell Quinn, to tell her that she and Sam are fake, that she has never stopped thinking about Quinn since she walked out of this apartment two years ago. This is her chance to tell Quinn how she really feels. The words are on the tip of her tongue.

But she cannot. The words Emma had said to her last night replay back to her.

'_If you tell the truth, this could be the end of your career.'_

And so Rachel freezes up, her mouth hanging open like a fish. Quinn deflates, the pleading in her eyes gone and instead replaced with discouragement. She shakes her head at Rachel and walks away into her room.

Rachel watches her walk away with hopelessness. She slumps against the wall and places her head in her hands, shaking her head about.

She's such a coward.

* * *

**There's the chapter guys! I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Thank you for reading**

**Xxx**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! Wow, so many of you disliked Quinn in the last chapter – and with good reason! Some of you didn't like Rachel either, with good reasons too! Oh and Rebecca will be making a appearance again in the future ;)**

**Anyway, thank you for your reviews and I hope this one is what you wanted/expected!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." - Buddha  
_

"_You're such a chicken, Rachel_."

Rachel closes her eyes at the disappointed tone in Santana's voice through the phone. "I know, I know I am."

"_But Quinn is a brat as well_."

"What? How?"

"_Rach, you let her into your house, brought her clothes and found her job. How does she repay you? By bringing home some sleazy slut and letting that slut walk round naked in front of my daughter!_"

Rachel shakes her head and begins to pace in her room. "She was angry, alright? I know that doesn't excuse it but...she's had a rough time Santana."

"_I don't give flying fuck! She should know what common courtesy is, Rach_."

"We're not talking about Quinn right now, we're talking about me."

"_Yeah, you need to grow a pair and tell her. Don't you remember what I said to you in the hospital? Just ignore Emma and do what is right for you_."

"I know, I'm just...I'm scared."

"_Scared of Emma_?"

"No scared of what Quinn will say, how she'll react."

"_Look, Rachel, from the amount of time I've spent with you and Quinn in the same room, I can honestly tell you that that girl has it bad for you. I don't know why she would sleep with someone else – maybe she was jealous? – but what I do know is the Quinn really likes you. I don't know how she will react to you and Sam, but I'm sure she won't take it bad_."

A smile grows on Rachel's face with a matching blush. "Really?"

"Really. Now fuck off and tell that woman how you goddamn feel!" Santana shouts through the phone.

Rachel laughs and hangs up the phone. She takes a deep breath and walks out of her bedroom, pausing momentarily when she looks over at Quinn and Jessica. Quinn is animatedly pointing at her scar on her hand, seemingly telling Jessica a story. Rachel looks at Jessica and chuckles. Her eyes are as wide as saucers, watching Quinn with rapt attention.

"And the dragon swooped down-" Quinn says, using her left arm to act out the dragon swooping down. Quinn glances over at Rachel and then pauses.

A charming blush covers Quinn's cheeks when she makes eye contact with Rachel. Rachel tilts her head to the side when Quinn excuses herself from Jessica and walks over to her. A smile graces Rachel's face when she notices the uniform she used to wear for the Coffee place is now on Quinn. The blonde seems to rock the coffee coloured button up shirt and black slacks look.

"Hey-uh, can I talk to you?" Quinn asks.

Rachel glances over Quinn's shoulder at Jessica and nods, leading Quinn into the kitchen and away from the young girl's ears.

"No Rebecca?" Rachel asks as she grabs herself a glass of water.

"No, I kicked her out." Quinn says, sitting down at the island.

"Really?" Rachel asks, trying to hide the giddiness out of her voice. She turns round to face Quinn and leans against the counter top, watching the blonde from over her glass as she drinks the water.

Quinn nods and scratches at the back of her neck. "What she did was highly inappropriate and I didn't want her company anymore."

Rachel only nods. She finishes the glass of water and immediately turns back round to re-fill it.

"I wanted to apologize to you, Rachel. I didn't mean to be so rude this morning and I know it was wrong of me to bring a woman back to your home and then get angry at you for requesting I don't do such a thing. I mean, who would be comfortable with having their roommate bring home women and have them walk round their apartment naked? I know I wouldn't and so I am really sorry."

Rachel nods again. If only Quinn knew the real reason as to why she was angry. Well, hopefully she will know.

"I know me apologizing won't make up for my behaviour." Quinn bites her lip. "I haven't been the best roommate either. You brought me clothes, let me stay here and found me a job and I will be forever grateful. I promise you that I will pay you back for the clothes and start to pay half of the rent."

"No Quinn you don't-"

"I do." Quinn says, stopping Rachel's protest. "That's what Roommates do – they split the bills."

Rachel nods and smiles. "Okay.

"I best get to work. Do you want to drop by sometime today? I'll give you free coffee." Quinn says with a charming smile.

"First day and already you're giving away free coffee?" Rachel asks in a teasing tone. She and Quinn begin to walk back to the living room.

"Yeah well, just don't tell Paul."

Rachel chuckles. "He gives me free coffee anyway so he won't mind."

Quinn's smile falls slightly. "Oh. Well, I got to go." She says before rushing out, shouting a goodbye to Jessica as she goes.

Rachel plops herself down beside Jessica, watching as the little girl plays with the duplo set she keeps at Rachel's place. A soft, content sigh leaves Rachel's lips.

"Are You happy, Aunt Rachel?" Jessica asks, not removing her eyes from the duplo set.

A smile tugs up on Rachel's face. "Yes, yes I am."

* * *

Rachel's eyes are locked on Quinn as she moves about the coffee shop, her hand occasionally wiping on the white apron tied around her waist. The blonde greets customers in a friendly manner and engages them all in conversation. Rachel's eyes narrow when she sees some woman push a card over to Quinn before leaving.

"Everything is okay then?"

Rachel watches for Quinn's actions. The blonde takes the card, glances at it before throwing it in a bin as she walks to an empty table. A happy smile appears on Rachel's face until she finally turns to look at the other blonde sat on her right.

Emma is waiting expectantly, Rachel's Television contact resting in her hands. Rachel presses her lips together and nods curtly before diverting her attention back to Quinn. The blonde looks up from the table she was cleaning and spots Rachel watching her. She flashes Rachel a smile before moving onto the next table.

Jessica bounces in the chair next to Rachel, happily colouring away in the colouring Rachel brought her when Emma had called and forced this meeting upon Rachel. Rachel watches Jessica carefully colour the Rhinos' horn blue to match his yellow and green striped body. The Diva refuses to actually say anything to Emma, she's furious with the woman for the way she spoke to Quinn yesterday.

Emma sighs from beside Rachel. "You're going to have to talk to me, Rachel."

Rachel looks back at Emma and sets her lips into a thin line. "Fine. Let's talk."

Rachel notices Emma's going to speak and so quickly cuts her off. "I'm sorry, what I meant to say is I'll talk and you'll listen." She says in a forceful tone. She glances at Jessica to makes sure the little girl is distracted.

Emma's only response is a slight twitch of her eyebrow.

"I want to tell Quinn the truth about Sam and I."

"No-"

"I'm talking." Rachel growls, cutting Emma off. "As I was saying, I wish to tell Quinn about the true nature of Sam and Mine's relationship. Not the whole world, just her." Rachel leans back in her chair and gestures for Emma to speak.

Her response is almost immediate.

"No. I don't trust her."

"This is not about you trusting her, it's about me trusting her."

"This could jeopardise your career!"

At her words, Rachel leans forward with a new found purpose. "See, no it wouldn't. Telling Quinn the truth would do no such thing, even if she did blab the truth. Look around you Emma, what do you see?"

Emma does as Rachel tells her and looks around the cafe. Rachel does so too and spots the many lesbian and gay couples happily sitting with each other, holding hands, laughing and behaving like any heterosexual couples, comfortably. She even spots a gay couple and a heterosexual couple sitting together in a booth.

"We live in one of the top ten gayest states in the country. New York's gay pride march is one of the largest in the U.S.A. New York will accept me for me if they ever find out the truth about Sam and I."

Emma stares at Rachel before shaking her head. "Rachel as your manager I suggest-"

"Can you stop being my Manager for one second and be my friend? Please." Rachel pleads.

Emma nods. "As your friend, I think it's a great idea. I know she makes you happy. Heck, you've been the happiest I've ever seen you these past few weeks. But as your Manager, it's probably the worst decision of your life and I refuse to let you go through with it."

"Aunt Rachel, look!" Jessica says, holding up the very colourful Rhino for Rachel to see. Rachel looks away from her Manager to praise Jessica and her artwork.

"Well done honey!"

"It's for Quinn." Jessica says, putting the drawing down.

"You should write her a message." Rachel says.

"Okay!"

Rachel turns back to Emma, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "As my Manager, you're meant to manage my career, not my personal life." Rachel growls. She stands up and grabs her purse. "You're wrong about this being the worst decision I've ever made. Hiring you as my Manager was."

She turns to Jessica who's finished writing the message to Quinn and picks the little girl up, along with her colouring turns around, leaving a gobsmacked and slightly impressed Emma behind. She pauses and turns around before marching back to the table. She grabs hold of the contract and looks straight into Emma's eyes.

"Oh and if that hadn't clued you in – You're fired." With that, Rachel performs one of her perfect storm outs, not before catching Quinn's eyes and throwing her a quick wink.

Jessica happily chats away to Rachel as she sits upon her hip, not having noticed the previously tense atmosphere between Emma and Rachel, to which Rachel is grateful.

She doesn't care what Emma thinks anymore. Tonight, Rachel is going to tell Quinn the truth.

* * *

A piece of paper lands in front of Rachel's face, causing her to look up from her script for the TV show. She raises an eyebrow at the smiling blonde in front of her and picks up the piece of paper. She inspects the writing on the paper, noticing the numbers and how it's written out to Quinn.

"What's this?" She asks, waving the paper about.

Quinn shifts on her feet and leans her hip to the side. "My Pay Check."

Rachel looks back down and realises that this is indeed Quinn's pay check. She can't understand how Quinn already has a pay check even though she's only worked for a day. "Quinn, I can't take this."

Quinn's hand stops her from pushing it back. "You can and you will. I need to start paying you back and for my share of the rent."

"Quinn, this is hardly anything, there's no point in me accepting this."

"I know, but it's more than what I have been giving you. Please, take it."

Begrudgingly, Rachel pockets the small piece of paper. She smiles at the happy expression on Quinn's face. The blonde removes her cap and shakes around her choppy blonde locks, causing her hair to look incredibly fluffy. She looks so adorable right now. Like a golden retriever puppy.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Rachel says, pulling out Jessica's drawing from under her script. "Jessica drew this for you." She says, handing Quinn the colourful Rhino.

Quinn looks down at the drawings and reads the message Jessica left:

"_To Qwinn from Jessica LopezPierce age 3 ½"_

"She's very bright for her age." Quinn comments as she places the drawing onto the fridge.

"That's because she has me as a Aunt." Rachel says smugly.

Quinn laughs and goes to walk away, but Rachel's voice stops her.

Rachel bites her lip and she glances down at her script. "Can I talk to you?"

When Quinn turns around, Rachel can't help but smile at the panicked look on Quinn's face. It's like Quinn is a teenager who thinks they're in trouble with their parents but doesn't know what for.

"It's not about you." Rachel says reassuringly. She gets up from the stool and motions for Quinn to follow her to the living and settles herself down.

"Okay." Quinn says, slowly lowering herself into the cushions. "Who is it about?" She inquires with a tip of her head.

Rachel glances around the living room and takes a deep breath. This is it, time to tell the truth. It's easy, she just needs to say: Sam and I are not in a-

"Do you want some tea?" Rachel asks, abruptly getting up from the settee.

_For fuck sake that was not what she was meant to say. Stop being so chicken!_

Quinn shakes her head, looking at Rachel with worry. "No, I'm fine thank you."

"I brought some herbal fruit teas the other day, I have yet to try them." Rachel continues to say, trying to avoid the subject she knows she needs to bring up with Quinn. She moves back to the kitchen and begins to frantically look through the cupboards.

Each closing bang of the cupboard doors matches the heavy beat of her heart. She vaguely hears Quinn also enter the kitchen.

"Rachel, I'm fine." Quinn says, trying to stop Rachel's frantic movements.

"I know they are here somewhere."

Rachel feels a hand grasp her own. She stops her search for the teas and looks over at Quinn who looks at her in concern. Her eyes glance down to their joined hands and back to Quinn's face.

"We don't need tea. Now, why don't you tell me what it is you wish to tell me?" Quinn asks with a soft smile. She guides Rachel over to her previously occupied stool and sits the smaller woman down before taking the seat next to her.

Rachel notices how Quinn has yet to let go of her hand. She looks into Quinn's warm golden eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Do you know what PR is?" Rachel asks quietly.

Quinn nods. "Public Relations." Her face scrunches up into confusion. "I don't understand-"

Rachel puts a hand up to stop Quinn from talking. "Just go with it, please?" When Quinn nods, Rachel continues. "So, I'm guessing you understand what a PR relationship is, then?"

Another nod.

It's now or never, Rachel.

"That's what Sam and I are."

"What?" Quinn retracts her hand from Rachel's. The smaller woman ignores the hurt she feels at the movement and continues with her explanation. She looks down at her hands in shame.

"Mine and Sam's relationship is not real. Emma and Sam's manager, Artie, thought that it would be a good idea for Sam and I to come out as a couple when we were in our musical to help boost morale. They then told us to continue the 'relationship' even though both Sam and I have new projects."

Rachel looks up from her hands and almost flinches at the hard and stony look on Quinn's face. She's never seen Quinn have that look before and never has she directed anything similar towards Rachel. Even Quinn's eyes are hard and blocked off. Her eyes are how Rachel learnt to decipher Quinn's emotions. Her face and body language may say one thing, but her eyes always tell a different story.

"Emma made Sam and I keep up our relationship in front of you because she did not trust that you would not tell the press. But you have to believe me Quinn when I didn't want to lie to you. I didn't want to make you think that Sam and I were together."

Quinn's lips set in a tight line and she looks away from Rachel.

Rachel reaches out to grab Quinn's hand, only to have Quinn move her hand back and out of Rachel's reach.

Rachel can feel herself cracking under the silence that Quinn is sending her. But, it's not even silence. It's not anything. Quinn is giving her nothing.

"I tried to convince her to allow me to tell you seeing as I am no longer on Broadway and instead doing a stupid television project I don't even want to do. Broadway is what I've always wanted to do and after two years, she thinks it's time for me to move on! She doesn't realise that being on Broadway makes me happy."

Rachel takes a deep breath and reminds herself to stay on track. She feels tears prick at her eyes as she thinks about how she may have just lost all her chances with Quinn.

"She doesn't realise that me being with you will make me happy."

Her words cause Quinn to look back at her. The gaze Quinn sets on her is still hard, but inside the small flakes of gold within her iris sparkles hurt and hope. It makes Rachel happy to know she said the right thing.

Quinn slowly stands up and walks over to the front door. Rachel quickly follows her, the tears now falling.

"Where are you going?" She asks.

Quinn doesn't answer and instead, wordlessly puts on her coat and shoes. As she goes to open the door, a hand on her arm stops her.

"Please don't leave Quinn, not again. Don't leave me again." Rachel pleads, staring at Quinn with tear stained cheeks and watery eyes.

"I need to think about a few things." Quinn answers, her voice cracking on the last word. "I promise I'll come back."

Rachel's hand falls from Quinn's arm and rests at her side. She watches with teary eyes as Quinn opens the door and leaves once again.

Once again, Rachel is alone.

* * *

The bell above the door jingles as Quinn rushes in. The tears she was holding back at the apartment fell as soon as she stepped out onto the street. There was only one place Quinn wanted to go and so she ran. She ran through the people of New York to the only place where she felt like she belonged in her years of being on the street.

"We're closed." Brittany's head pokes through the kitchen door, her hair net still on her head and soup splashed on her cheek.

Her eyes flash in recognition when she spots Quinn and a smile pulls on her face. She pushes through the door and takes off her hair net. However when she notices Quinn's tears, her smile falls. "Oh Honey." Brittany says, rushing towards the crying blonde and pulls her into her arms.

Quinn breaks down completely as soon as Brittany's arms wrap around her body and she lets her tears soak Brittany's pastel blue shirt. She cries as Brittany gently rocks her and runs her fingers through her hair, soothing Quinn.

Once she's calmed down, Brittany pulls back and smiles at her sadly. Her thumbs wipe away the still lingering tears on Quinn's cheek. "She finally told you?" Brittany asks.

Quinn's eyes flash in pain and anger at Brittany's words. She pulls back completely from Brittany and glares at her. "You knew? You knew that she and Sam were fake?"

Brittany nods and sits herself down on one of the tables. "Honey, Santana and I have been Rachel's friends since Senior year of High School. We know almost everything. Rachel's as gay as a unicorn puking rainbows."

Quinn begins to pace in anger. "Why did she lie to me? People have lied to me all my life and I really thought Rachel was different."

"Rachel is different. She's so different to anyone else in this world."

"How, exactly? Tell me how she is different from everyone else?" Quinn stops her pacing to face the very calm and relaxed Brittany.

Brittany smiles softly and removes the apron from around her waist. She slides down into a seat at the table she was sitting on and motion for Quinn to sit opposite her. When Quinn does, she speaks.

"Rachel is the most thoughtful and considerate person you will ever meet. Sure, she can be selfish and obnoxious, but then she does something super cool like makes you her "I'm Sorry" cookies or lets you stay in her apartment even though you broke in."

Quinn blushes and looks away.

"Think about it Quinn, how many people can you say would have done that? How many people would have let you have a goodnight sleep in their house – which you broke into – and given you time to leave before calling the police?"

"Not many."

"Literally no one." Brittany says with a laugh. "How many people can you say would gladly take you back to the same apartment you broke into two years ago, give you a place to stay, buy you clothes and get you a job without expecting anything in return?"

A smiles pulls up on Quinn's face and she looks down at her hands. "No one."

"But Rachel did." Brittany says, placing a hand on Quinn's. "It sucks that she lied to you about her and Sam. Trust me when I say Santana has been trying to get her to tell you the truth for weeks and was getting really angry at her for it."

"Why didn't she?"

Brittany scratches at her eyebrow. "She was scared, Quinn. She was frightened, not because she thinks her career would go down the drain, but because she thought she might lose you again. She has no idea that you return her feelings."

Quinn looks up at Brittany and raises an eyebrow. Brittany rolls her eyes.

"I thought I was dense." She mutters to herself. "Quinn, Rachel is head over heels in love with you. After you left, Rachel became a ghost. I had never seen her so upset. She was more upset than when she had tonsillitis and couldn't sing for a week."

Quinn chuckles, just picturing how worked up and annoyed Rachel probably was during that week. Rachel is always singing in the apartment. Whenever Quinn wakes up in the morning, she hears Rachel singing in the kitchen, whenever she's sat in the sitting room, eating a bowl of fruit loops, she can hear Rachel singing in the shower.

"The only time Rachel would sing was when she had a show, that was only because she had to. She rarely sang outside of the theatre, Quinn. Her days became repetitive and monotone. She'd wake up, get dressed, got to work, come home, have dinner then sleep. Occasionally she'd go out somewhere with Sam for the paparazzi, but that was the only time she'd leave the apartment for anything other than work."

Quinn's heart breaks at Brittany's words. She hates the fact that Rachel went through all of that. That she suffered through so much pain.

Brittany pats Quinn's arm. "You make her happy, Quinn. Love just radiates off her when you're around. She's a like a ball of sunshine with you." Brittany pauses. "She also does the same for you."

Quinn goes to protest, but Brittany cuts her off.

"I know you Quinn. You used to come in here every day for a year with Finn and Puck. You would smile, but it would never reach your eyes. Sure, you were probably happier at that time then before you broke into Rachel's house, but you weren't truly happy. Not until Rachel found you again."

Quinn sighs and sits back. "Rachel won't love me when she learns about what happened to me." She says in disgust.

Brittany shakes her head. "That's the beautiful thing about Rachel, she will always find a way to surprise you." Brittany stands up and grabs her apron and hair net. "Now, go back to the apartment and sort things out."

"What should I do? What do I say?" Quinn asks, standing up as well.

Brittany pushes the last lock of hair underneath her hair net and places her hand son her hips. "Start with the truth. Tell her something that you will find difficult to tell, just like it was probably difficult for Rachel to tell you about her and Sam and a few other things."

"You know that she told me about her dream?" Quinn asks aghast.

Brittany smirks at Quinn and pushes the smaller blonde towards the door. "I know a lot of things." She says before opening the door and ushering Quinn out.

Quinn takes a deep breath and nods to herself. Time to get home.

* * *

Rachel's off the settee as soon as she hears the front door open. Relief floods through her when she spots Quinn standing in the doorway. She wipes away the tears rolling down her eyes and sniffs, hoping she doesn't look like she's been crying for the time that Quinn has been gone.

"You're back." Rachel whispers, watching as Quinn shrugs out of her coat and kicks her shoes off. The blonde makes her way over to Rachel and stares down into Rachel's eyes.

Rachel is relieved to see that the cold and stony look is gone, now replaced with what looks like need and determination.

"I told you I was coming back." Quinn whispers back. She licks her lips and takes a deep breath. "You told me something a while ago that was obviously hard for you to say as well as today. Now it's my turn."

"Quinn-"

"Please, just let me speak." Quinn pleads, cutting Rachel off.

Rachel nods and blinks once, waiting or Quinn to continue.

"I think it's time for me to tell you about how I got here."

Quinn walks past Rachel and sits down on the settee. She waits until Rachel sits down on the settee next to her before continuing. She grabs hold of Rachel's hands and looks straight into her eyes.

"It's time to tell you my past, Rachel."

* * *

**There's the chapter. I hope you all liked it and think the girl's aren't so bad any more!**

**Thank you for reading**

**xxx**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello people! Thank you for being so patient whilst I wrote this chapter, it took me quite a while as it is quite emotionally draining to write things of this nature. It is mainly Quinn based this chapter (obvs) and not that much Faberry, but I promise that the next chapter will be lighter and happier!**

**Thank you for your lovely reviews. Trigger warning: Scenes of abusive nature and homophobia.**

* * *

_"A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." - Sophia Loren _******  
**

Quinn's eyes follow the pattern painted upon the mug held between her palms. Her skins happily accepts the soft heat radiating from the ceramic mug, wishing for the warmth to spread throughout the rest of her body because, right now, Quinn is feeling chilled to the bone. It's her fear that's taking away the heat in her body. Fear of revealing her past, fear of Rachel's reaction to her life and fear of re-visiting all the awful memories she has locked inside her mind.

Puck used to tell Quinn that it's good for her to open up, to tell someone or something what she's feeling, thinking, fearing. Otherwise, it just eats at you and just gets a whole lot worse. She tried to, she honestly did. But she could only tell Puck and Finn the basics before nearly going into a panic attack. After that, Puck and Finn never pushed her; they patiently waited for her to reveal more parts to them. Of course, Quinn never did. And so, it just ate away at her.

Until one day, Finn grabbed his army figures and stuck them down in front of Quinn. When she had questioned him on it, Finn simply grinned and softly said:

"They're good listeners."

Once Finn had walked away, everything Quinn had bottled up just spilled out. She revealed everything to the army figures. Every emotion, every thought, every action and every tear that she has ever had was told to the figures. It was three hours later, when Finn came back and just held Quinn in his arms that Quinn realised why Finn kept the figures around for other than a toy to play with. _They are good listeners_.

Now, sitting here in the living room, with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands, Quinn can only pray that Rachel is just like those action figures.

Quinn takes a sip from the mug before slowly reaching forward and placing it down on the coffee table. In the corner of her eyes, she notices Rachel straighten a bit, as if preparing for Quinn to speak.

Open with something easy, Quinn. It's the only way.

"Rachel, do you know who Russell Fabray is?" Quinn asks, looking at the patch of skin just under Rachel's eyes.

"Isn't he the man who was Governor of Connecticut for like ten years and opposed everything to do with gay marriage?"

Quinn nods. "He was also my Father."

Rachel's eyes widen, her mouth falls open slightly as she stares at Quinn in shock. Quinn offers her a weak smile.

"Russell had a temper. He was very proud of himself and the family we were – or the one he created. If any of us did something to damage that pride or our family image," Quinn takes a shuddering breath and her hands begin to tremble slightly. "Well, he would no longer be the loving Father he was made out to be."

Rachel's hand clasps onto Quinn's trembling ones, her eyes filled with slight fear. "He-he didn't hit you, did he?"

Quinn doesn't answer, but instead, looks at Rachel with broken and damaged eyes. They scream pain, hurt and betrayal. Quinn whimpers slightly and softly nods her head. "The first time it happened, I was ten years old."

* * *

**13 years ago**

Daddy is having one of those silly parties again. The men are dressed in black suits, all of them looking exactly the same with big smiles that look like the Cheshire cat's smile. They all talk about silly adult things, like banking and the weather. Daddy is stood amongst them, his pale blonde hair standing out amongst the dark hair of the others. The women are all dressed in their best night gowns, their wrist and fingers compiled with loads and loads of jewels that must cost lots of money. Mom also stands out amongst them, her red gown bright against their grey and black gowns.

Quinn sighs at the sight, her eyes moving between the men and the women. She lifts up the small disposable camera in her hands and snaps a photo of the boring party. Daddy had gotten the camera for her birthday this year and Quinn loved it. She went around and took photo after photo of anything. Plants, cutlery, crockery, butterflies, her Mom, her room, absolutely anything. She doesn't want to take photos of this boring party like Daddy asked her to. She wants to go outside and take a photo of their streets and how ghost-like it looks with the street lights and moon. It's beautiful.

She hops off the seat Daddy sat her on and wonders over to the table filled with a load of food. Her small hands pick up a cracker covered in this black stuff. Curious as to what the black stuff is, Quinn brings the cracker to her nose and sniffs.

Her head snaps back on her neck and the disgusting smell omitting from the black stuff. She throws the cracker back on the table and folds her arms across her chest. She turns her attention back to the grownups mingling in the house and leans back against the table.

This isn't a party. There isn't any balloons, no cake and the food is most definitely not party food.

A chuckle from her left brings Quinn out of her brooding. She looks up to see one of the men who had been laughing with Daddy grinning at her. Quinn's eyes drop to her camera in her hand.

"Not a fan of Caviar, I'm guessing?" He asks, gesturing to the thrown cracker.

Quinn's face scrunches up. "What's that?"

"Fish eggs."

Quinn looks at the man in horror. "Why would anyone want to eat Fish eggs?"

The man shrugs and also leans against the table. "I have no idea; I'm not that fond of them either."

Biting her lip, Quinn lifts the camera and quickly snaps a photo of a man, giggling at his shocked expression.

"Quinnie! Come over here!"

Quinn looks away from the man and over to her Daddy. He's stood away from the men with a bright smile on his face. But his eyes say something different, they're hard and cold. They are focused on the man next to Quinn.

'_You need to be a good girl for Daddy tonight, Quinnie'_ Quinn remembers her Mom saying to her as she helped her get ready. '_Tonight is not the night to disobey him'_

Waving goodbye at the man stood beside her, Quinn walks over to her Daddy, noticing how his eyes haven't moved from the man stood by the table. It's only when Quinn tugs on his hand does he look away.

"Daddy, why are you eating fish eggs?" She asks innocently. She didn't like the way her Daddy was looking at that man. It was like he was a bug that needed to be squashed.

Russell's smile is strained as he looks down at his daughter. "We're not sweetie." He says. "Listen Quinnie, I don't want you talking to that man."

Quinn looks back over at the man, watching him casually bite into a carrot stick. She looks back at her Daddy and scrunches her mouth up in confusion. "Why?"

"He's not like the rest of us, Quinn. He's tainted and if you talk to him, he'll taint you too."

"Tainted how?"

"He loves men like I love your Mother. He goes home to a man, not a woman."

Quinn frowns. "But he's nice. What has him loving men have to do with him as a person?"

Russell's lips set in a thin line. His eye twitches slightly and he bends down, putting his face close to Quinn's. When he speaks, his voice is barely above a whisper, but it's in the coldest tone Quinn's ever heard him use.

"Because he's a faggot..." Quinn flinches at the way her Daddy spits at the word 'faggot'. "He disrespects the bible, he disrespects men and he disrespects my home. He is not nice, he is an abomination and you'll do good to listen to me and not talk to him."

Quinn stares at her Daddy in fear. She doesn't like this Daddy. He's not the nice and friendly Daddy he usually is. He's evil. But the fear inside of her stops her from arguing any further. A nod is her only response.

As if the conversation never happened, Russell grins at Quinn and stands up. "I'm glad you understand. Now, I want to introduce you to some of my colleagues." Russell places a seemingly gentle hand on Quinn's shoulder and guides her over to the loud, boisterous group of men by the staircase.

The hand on Quinn's shoulder squeezes quite firmly, silently warning Quinn to be polite.

"Gentlemen, may I introduce my wonderful daughter, Quinn?"

The men stop their conversation to stare down at Quinn with cold and obnoxious eyes. Their noses scrunch up slightly in disgust as they look at her but strained smiles grace their faces.

"Hello." Quinn says, waving at them.

"Where's your other daughter, Fabray?" One of the men asks. Quinn notices the big potbelly poking out through his suit.

Russell's hand tightens painfully so on Quinn's shoulder. Quinn tries not to wince. "She's at boarding school, Johnson."

The other men continue to stare at Quinn with distaste. Quinn frowns, she made sure she looks perfect for Daddy this evening, Mom even helped her out, and here these stupid men are, looking at her like she's a rat.

"But, Quinnie here, well she's-"

They turn away from Quinn and continue with their conversation, ignoring what Russell was about to say. This angers Quinn. No one is rude to her Daddy. She shrugs off her Daddy's hand and walks up to the man with the big belly, the one who she's guessing is the leader out of the men.

"Hey!" She says, stamping on the man's foot. The man shouts in pain and turns to glare down at Quinn. "My Daddy was talking to you and you ignored him!"

"Quinn." Russell growls from between his teeth.

"Why you little-" The fat one says, going to grab for Quinn, only to have her pulled out of the group.

"Please excuse her, Mr Johnson, it's way past Quinn's bed time so she's a little tired."

Quinn looks up at the sound of her Mom's voice. The hold on her shoulders is firm but not painful. Judy doesn't spare Quinn a glance as she stares at Mr Johnson.

"I'm not tired! This fat man disrespected-"

Judy's hand quickly covers Quinn's mouth. She lets out a nervous chuckle. "Like I said, she's very tired. Come on Quinnie, bedtime."

Quinn looks up at her Daddy as Judy drags her up the stairs. Fear passes through her at the thunderous expression on his face as his eyes follow Judy and Quinn up the stairs. For the first time ever, Quinn fears her Daddy.

Judy calmly guides Quinn into her bedroom and closes her bedroom door. When she turns around to, Quinn is shocked to see the fear inside herself, mirrored in her mother's eyes. Judy carefully approaches Quinn and squats down in front for her, not caring that her dress is getting crinkled.

Judy takes Quinn's camera from her hands and places it on the ground beside them.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Quinnie. Daddy is very mad." Judy gently says, her lips trembling as her eyes look over the pale skin of Quinn's arms.

"Why? I was defending him."

"You disrespected him. You know he doesn't like being disrespected." Judy licks her trembling lips and looks Quinn in the eyes. "Quinnie, your Daddy is going to hurt you." When Quinn whimpers, Judy softly shushes her. " Only talk when he asks you a question, don't scream – that will only make it worse for you and please, whatever you do, do not cry whilst it happens. I'll be back when he's finished and I will help you, okay?"

Quinn's whole body trembles in fear. She just manages to nods her head at her Mom.

Judy grins in pain at her. "I love you." She says before pressing a kiss to Quinn's forehead and leaving the room.

Quinn feels tears prick at her eyes. A sob escapes her lips and she collapses down onto her bed. She knows Mom told her not to cry, but the fear is overwhelming. She can't not cry. She cries for her impeding pain, her fear and for her Daddy.

It's two hours later when Russell finally makes his appearance. Quinn is curled up on her bed, the tears having finally stopped and are now dried on her cheeks. She hears his heavy footsteps make his way to her door.

With a bang, her door is flung open, causing Quinn to sit up in shock. Her eyes land in front of a man she's never seen before. He looks like Daddy, but the angry, intoxicated expression on his face is not her Daddy. This is the first time she'll be meeting this man.

"Stand up." He barks.

Quinn does so, her shoulder shaking with a new sense of fear. Fear for what's about to come.

Russell stumbles over to her, his glazed eyes struggling to focus on her. He misses his footing and stumbles onto the camera. Quinn gasps, heartbroken at the sight of her smashed camera.

"You disrespected me in front of my colleagues." Russell growls, swaying on the spot. "Do you know what happens when my chid disrespects me?"

"Daddy I-" Big mistake.

A loud smack resounds through the room. Quinn stumbles back onto her bed, her hand clutching the left side of her face. Tears prick at her eyes as she stares at her Daddy who's hand is outstretched. She can feel all the blood in her face rush to the spot he just hit.

"Turn around." He demands, fumbling with his belt buckle.

With trembling legs, Quinn slowly turns around. She flinches when she hears the leather of her Daddy's belt run through his belt loops. A loud snap causes her to jump.

"I was willing to overlook your little mishap with the faggot, earlier." Russell spits.

Quinn feels the bottom of her dress get lifted up and flung over her head to expose her back, bottom and legs. She wishes for her legs to stop shaking. She mustn't show that she's frightened. She bites down on her bottom lip to stop a sob from escaping her. The wait is horrible. She hates not knowing when the belt will strike, she hates not knowing what is going to happen and when.

When it does finally strike, Quinn can't even begin to comprehend the pain. It's like a thousand knives all struck at her, slicing her skin. She holds back the scream of pain within her. She cannot fight the tears as he strikes again, this time, ripping some of the skin on her back. The tears drop down onto her duvet covers, darkening the material beneath her.

"But then, you went and attacked Mr Johnson."

The belt hits again, smacking at the already raw skin. Quinn let's out an almighty scream in pain. She couldn't hold it in for longer. It hurts too much. Her fists are curled up into balls, her knuckles turning pale white as she tries to channel some of the pain from her back to her palm as she digs her nails into the skin.

"Then you disobeyed not only me, but your Mother."

Another hit. Quinn screams once more, hot tears spilling down her face as the metal on the buckle hits her back like a hammer hitting a nail. He produces three more strikes, each one hurting more than the last. She feeling blood trickle down her back to the top of her underwear.

Quinn silently pleads for him to stop. She can't take any more pain. No more.

It seems like Russell heard her silent pleas because he stops. Quinn listens to the belt be looped back through his trousers. She hears his heavy breathing and loud footsteps as he walks away. Quinn flinches when the bedroom door is slammed shut and she is the only one left in the room.

She doesn't move from her spot, her fear keeping her stuck in that position. What if he comes back for a second round? What if he thinks she needs to be punished further? And so, Quinn does not move. She hisses as the cold night air blows past her raw skin. She keeps the sobs at bay, she can't cry, not yet.

The door opens and closes once again, this time it's softer. Nonetheless, Quinn still flinches as soft footsteps make their way to her.

"Quinnie."

She feels her Mom's arms wrap around her and help her stand up straight, her dress falling back into place. Quinn winces when the dress makes contact with her skin. A sob escapes Quinn when she looks into her Mom's kind and caring eyes. Judy shakes her head, silently telling her to stop and slowly removes Quinn's dress.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's get you cleaned up."

That night, Judy Fabray taught Quinn how to cover up the bruise forming on her face with make-up, how to treat her wounds and how to smile like nothing was wrong. After all, Quinn was a Fabray and the Fabray's are the perfect family.

That night, Quinn realised that there was to be more nights like this to come. She now knew why Frannie asked to go to boarding school. It was to get away from the abuse.

* * *

"From then on, he continued with the belt and his hand." Quinn explains, her eyes focused on her lap. "It was only when he was drunk. He was never sober when he hit me. I guess it was so then what he was doing was under his own actions, but under the influence of alcohol."

Quinn looks up to Rachel. Rachel's lips are pursed in a thin line, but her eyes are screaming in pain. In Quinn's pain.

"As the years went on, the abuse became harder, more frequent. Russell would be drunk five out seven nights a week and on those nights, the belt or his hand would make an appearance on my body. That was, until I started to develop certain feelings for a girl in my classes in High School. The feelings that should be for a boy, not a girl. The feelings for a girl that Russell most certainly did not approve of."

* * *

**Seven Years ago**

Quinn despised her feelings. She absolutely hated them. They only ever get her into trouble and she knows that these feelings now, will get her into the most trouble she'll ever experience. She's been relatively good at hiding these feelings from everyone, including herself. And especially her Father.

At the thought of her Father, the bruise around Quinn's eye throbs angrily and the fresh welts on her back sting against her skin. He's gotten worse these past few weeks. The stress of the elections is getting to him and in turn, is being taken out on the alcohol and Quinn.

Quinn thanks the heavens for her Mom, though. If Judy wasn't there to help her, then Quinn is sure she would have cracked by now. She knows her Mom isn't doing everything she can to protect her. She knows that the fact her Mom has taken her away from Russell, or reported Russell is extremely bad. But she also knows why Judy hasn't done so. She's scared. Scared of what Russell will do when he finds out. Quinn is absolutely frightened about what he'd do, not only to her, but to her Mom as well. That's why Quinn is not angry at Judy, because she fears for her Mom's life.

Despite this, Judy is still a great support system. Ever since the beatings started, Judy was always there. Five minutes after Russell leaves Quinn, Judy will arrive and tend to Quinn's wounds. She holds Quinn as Quinn cries away her pain, she gives Quinn some strength to wake up tomorrow and go to school, to face Russell and to carry on living another day. Everyday Judy does it. And every day, Quinn thanks God for blessing her with her Mom.

She knows though, that she can't tell Judy about these feelings. But she knows, she can no longer hide them, not now.

Quinn's back hits the leather of her settee and she watches with a smirk as the beautiful brunette before her straddles her legs. Quinn's hands come to rest on the girl's thighs and she tugs their bodies closer together. The girl – Marley – smirks back at her and places her lips upon Quinn's.

"Who would have thought," Marley says between kisses, her hands tangling in Quinn's hair. "That the Governor's daughter was one of the people he hates so much?" She moans as Quinn moves her lips to her neck, sucking and biting at the pale skin beneath them.

"Daddy's little rebel." Marley gasps out as Quinn sucks harshly on her pulse point.

Quinn quickly moves the two of them so Marley is laid back on the settee and she is hovering over her. Quinn tries to forget about Russell at the moment, knowing that he won't be back from work for a couple of hours and she has plenty of time to ravish this girl and get her out of the house. That may sound horrible, but Quinn does this with every girl and does it for their safety. God forbid if Russell catches them together.

"I don't think now is a good time to talk about my Father." Quinn breathes out as she peers down at Marley. Marley nods her head in agreement and pulls Quinn back down into a frenzied kiss.

Quinn quickly learnt, that by finally embarrassing her true, homosexual feelings she gets to feel free for six hours of each day. At school she gets to be who she truly is and not think about what Russell is going to do if he finds out. The students are too scared of Russell Fabray to even look at him. Quinn also learnt that being the Governors daughter has a lot of benefits when it comes to attracting the female attention. Sure, she knows it's only because they are using her, but Quinn is also using the girls. She's using them for company and for the love she doesn't fully receive at home. For a few hours a day, these girls allow Quinn to feel loved, if even for a little while.

There's only one rule Quinn has with these girls: Don't touch her back.

Quinn's hands run up Marley's thigh, caressing the smooth skin under her hand. Her lips move up the girl's jaw and to her ear lobe. She sucks it in between her teeth, grinning at the throaty moan released from Marley.

Marley's hands move from Quinn's neck to her shoulders. Alarm bells ring in Quinn's head when she feels Marley's hands begin to slowly travel past her shoulders to her upper back. Moving from the brunette's earlobe, she grabs hold of the wondering hands and places them back on her neck.

"No." She whispers before moving down and capturing Marley's lips in her own. Her hand begins to travel further, over Marley's thigh and grazing under her skirt. Quinn grins when she hears Marley shudder at her touch.

The alarm bells ring once again. Marley's hands are moving again. Grabbing her hands, Quinn places them on her hips.

"Why won't you let me touch your back?" Marley asks against Quinn's hips, gasping when Quinn's hand moves under her skirt and her finger graze the wet patch on her underwear.

Quinn begins to kiss down Marley's neck to the top of her chest. "I don't let anyone touch my back. I don't let anyone see my back."

Quinn quickly pops open the buttons on Marley's shirt to reveal her bra cladded chest. She begins to lightly kiss at the newly revealed skin. Quinn's so distracted by the soft skin in front of her, that she doesn't notice Marley's hands trailing down to the edge of her cheerleading shirt and up under the material. It's only when Marley's fingertips softly touch one of the fresh welts on Quinn's skin, does the blonde notice.

She pulls away from Marley with a sharp hiss and levels the girl with a glare. Marley looks at Quinn with a shocked expression and understanding. It's like upon feeling Quinn's welt, Marley understands everything about Quinn and the rumours surrounding her. The rumour that Quinn doesn't keep a girl in her bed for longer than necessary. They all make sense now.

Quinn stands up and looks away from Marley. "I think you should leave."

"Quinn."

The blonde avoids the girl's gaze. Marley stands up, her shirt wide open and her skirt halfway up her thigh. She walks over to the blonde and takes her hand. Quinn's eyes sharply turn to her at the touch and she sees the soft expression on Marley's face.

Marley smiles softly at Quinn and takes a step forward. Her hand reaches up and rests on Quinn's cheek. Quinn turns her eyes down, her eyes locking onto their connected hands. Then, she feels the softest of kisses pressed to her lips, causing her to look up.

Without a moment hesitance, Quinn presses her lips back to Marley's with more lust than before. It was the caring look Marley gave her, the soft, comforting kiss that silently told her that it's okay. Everything's okay. And yeah, in this moment, it is.

Quinn quickly pushes the two of them backwards, not once breaking the kiss when Marley's back collides with the wall behind them. A giggle escapes Marley and her hands eagerly grapple at any part of Quinn that she can.

Before Quinn can push the kiss further, she feels a hand grab at her hair and roughly pull her back and away with such a powerful force that Quinn stumbles and falls to the grown.

There, standing above her is a furious, disgusted and sober Russell Fabray. His thunderous eyes are locked on Quinn with outright hatred for her. Before Quinn can blink, Russell moves forward and once again grabs hold of Quinn by her hair and pulls her up.

Quinn screams in pain, her eyes locking on Marley opposite her. The girl is simply shivering in fear, staring at Russell with the same fear that Quinn felt the first time Russell hit her.

"Leave." Russell growls to Marley. He doesn't remove his eyes from Quinn.

Quinn notices Marley hesitate. She pleads with her eyes to leave. She doesn't want her to be harmed too. With one look to Quinn, Marley quickly scurries away, not bothering to button up her shirt.

As soon as the door slams shut, Quinn feels a hand smack harshly across her face. She clenches her jaw to stop herself from crying out in pain and looks Russell dead in the eye. His eyes flash murderously, his jaw is clenched in anger. With a harsh tug of her hair, Russell brings Quinn's head back.

"How dare you bring filth like that into my home!" He screams, not caring that bits of his spit fly at Quinn's face.

He roughly throws Quinn to the ground. She lands with a harsh thump. Quinn winces, that's going to bruise so badly.

Before Quinn can even stand herself up, Russell charges at her and delivers a harsh kick to her stomach. The wind rushes out of her like a popped balloon and Quinn finds her unable to breathe. She wheezes and coughs violently, tears running down her eyes.

"How dare you disgrace the family name with something so vile!" He shouts, and gives Quinn another kick, causing her to fall off her shaky arms and back onto the floor. He reaches down and grabs her arm. With a firm tug, her pulls her up to her feet.

Russell moves his face extremely close to Quinn's. Quinn shivers at the look in his eye. She's seen Russell angry, but she's never seen him like this. It's someone different entirely.

When Russell smacks Quinn across her face once again, Quinn realises something. This is someone completely different. This is really who her Father is. A homophobic, abusive Father that for someone reason, the state had voted as Governor.

"You are no daughter of mine. You are a filthy faggot!" He roars before throwing her against the wall.

Quinn barely registers the pain of her head hitting the wall. The room's becoming dizzy, her tears are hot and desperate and her legs are about to give way. She only just about hears what Russell is saying to her. The pain is overriding her senses, making everything seem muffled, everything spin and shaky. Her legs finally give up and she falls like a dead weight to the floor.

"You have shamed this family name and you be forever rotting in hell!"

The last thing Quinn sees is Russell's foot flying towards her before everything goes black.

* * *

"Quinnie."

She feels her body get shaken and stirs in pain. Her mind is numb, she doesn't understand what's happening. Her eyes open blearily and she sees the panicked and worried expression on her Mom's face.

"Quinnie, come on." She feels herself get tugged up into a sitting position.

Quinn groans in pain, only to be hushed by Judy. She looks around, confused as to how she got to her room. She feels something pulling at her forehead and reaches up to touch, only to have Judy's hand stop her.

"Don't touch it, I've only just put it on. You need to stand up, Quinn." She hears Judy whisper in a hushed voice.

Like Bambi, Quinn stands shakily, stumbling slightly from the slightly spinning room. "What's happening?" She asks.

She feels something get thrust into her arms. Looking down, Quinn notices her backpack is now resting in her arms and is filled to the brim with things that are not her textbooks and binders. Clothes, food, water, hairbrush and the likes are stuffed within the bag. Quinn then notices her change of clothing. A hoodie and a pair of jeans.

"Mom."

"Shush, he'll hear you."

"What's going on?" She asks as Judy begins to hurriedly push Quinn towards the window.

"You're leaving." Judy says, throwing open the bedroom window.

Her words seem to smack some sense into Quinn and she wakes up from her bleary state. "What?"

"Take this money." Judy says, thrusting money into Quinn's hand. "And leave the State, Quinn. Go anywhere this money will take you, just get out of Connecticut."

"No, I'm not leaving you." Quinn whispers. "Not with him."

"Quinn, your Father was close to killing you today. It's either you run away now with some money or lie six feet below the ground and I refuse to live longer than my own daughter. Now, go."

Judy pushes Quinn to the window and watches tearfully as her daughter throws the bag down and begins to climb out of the window. Quinn pauses and looks down, spotting the conservatory roof only a few feet below her. She looks up at Judy with a heartbreaking look.

"Mom."

Judy nods, informing her that she's listening.

"I love you. Thank you so much, for everything." Quinn says, her voice cracking with emotion.

Judy steps forward and presses a kiss to Quinn's forehead. "I love you too, Quinnie. Be safe."

Biting down on her lip, Quinn begins her decent down from the window and jumps down onto the conservatory roof. She doesn't care that Russell may hear her; all she cares about is fulfilling her Mom's wishes and running away. She jumps down from the conservatory roof, wincing when she lands awkwardly on her ankle.

She hears Russell's booming voice shout at her Mom and turns round. She sees the silhouette of Russell and Judy from her bedroom window. Russell shouts loudly then smacks Judy across the face, causing the women to fall out of sight.

It takes so much will power from Quinn not to rush back in and bring her Mom with her. She turns and runs and ignored the pain emitting from her ankle. She knows that if she doesn't run, Russell will catch up to her. She just runs wherever her feet take her, her backpack bouncing furiously on her back and her money clutched tightly in her hand.

She finds herself at the train station. She finds herself paying for a ticket to New York City. She finds herself on a train with only one destination in mind. Soon enough she finds herself standing in Times Square, watching the people pass by. The only thing on Quinn's mind right now:

_If only I had a camera_.

* * *

**Five Years later**

Quinn tugs at her coat, pulling it closer to her body as the chilly winter air blows past her, tickling her ears. She shivers at the bitter cold and pulls her hat further down on her head. She's been walking for three hours now, trying to find any kind of shelter to stay for the night.

Five years ago when Quinn first arrived in the city, she had $50 in her pocket. Within three days that money went on buying food and finding a place to stay. Since that day, Quinn walked the streets, trying to find any food she can, gain money in any way she can.

A few times, Quinn had resorted to selling herself to get money for food. But after one quite abusive customer and a major panic attack on Quinn's behalf, she stopped. She couldn't go back to a life of where someone abused her. She couldn't sleep or eat properly knowing what she had gotten herself into. So, instead of being able to get some good food and a place to stay, Quinn left prostitution and began to walk the streets of New York.

The boots on her feet are way too big for her. She stole them off a hobo she found dead in Queens. Yes, Quinn has even resorted to stealing from dead people in order to survive. It's the only way the homeless can in New York, unless they're lucky enough to gain a job, or meet someone nice enough to take them in.

Quinn scoffs to herself. That hardly ever happens.

Her stomach grumbles loudly and Quinn sighs. She hasn't eaten in two days. She hasn't had a good night sleep in so long, Quinn's beginning to think she's developed insomnia.

Quinn pauses as she walks past apartment building. She turns her head to the door and sees it's slightly open. Quinn hesitantly moves towards the building and looks around for any doormen. Odd, no one is there.

There's something about this apartment. It's like there's something calling for Quinn to enter the building. She doesn't know why and has no idea what it is calling at her, but before she knows it, she's through the door and standing in a very grand lobby.

As if her legs have taken over her mind, Quinn walks into the lift and presses the button for the top floor. She doesn't know what's happening, all she knows is that this was probably the best decision of her life.

When the doors open, Quinn slowly makes her way down the hall, looking for any door that seems slightly open. Down the hall, Quinn spots a door left slightly a-jar. She knows this is bad. She knows she shouldn't do this. But she can practically feel the warm shower water running down her back, she can feel how soft the bed is going to be.

Fuck it.

Quinn rushes forward and slips through the door, making sure to keep it slightly a-jar like the woman left it. She walks through the tidy apartment, admiring the decorating and furniture. As soon as she walks into the kitchen, Quinn heads for a cupboard. She picks up a box of cereal and places it on the counter before hunting around for a bowl and spoon.

"Found you!" She says happily and places the bowl and spoon next to the cereal. She finds milk, not caring that it's soy and eagerly pours herself a bowl. "Oops." Quinn mutters when she accidently spills some of the milk. She's too excited to care about that right now, all she cares about is getting this cereal in her mouth.

Within minutes, Quinn has finished the bowl of cereal and moan at the feeling of a full belly. She hasn't felt that in so long. Not wanting to leave a mess, Quinn puts the bowl into the dishwasher before walking off to find a bathroom.

What Quinn finds, is so much better than a bathroom.

Quinn feels sleepy just looking at the obviously soft and comforting bed with big fluffy pillows. She notices a bathroom attached to the bedroom and practically dances with joy. Shrugging off her clothes and backpack (but placing them neatly, of course) Quinn runs into the shower.

A long, satisfied moan leaves Quinn's mouth as soon as the warm water hits her skin. She eagerly washes away the dirt and grime off her body, grimacing at the dark water rushing down the drain. It feels so good to finally have a shower again. She happily scrubs shampoo and conditioner into her hair, excited to feel clean hair once again. Looking around, Quinn spots some shower gel resting on the side and squirts it into her hand, scrubbing the lavender smelling gel all over her body. She's not going to smell like a garbage truck anymore.

Once done, Quinn pauses. Fuck, she forgot to grab a towel. She bites her lip and looks between the gap between the shower curtain and wall. She silently thanks whoever lives her for keeping their towels so close to the shower.

Quinn sticks her hand out, trying to grapple for the towel, her head facing the back wall of the shower cubicle. Finally, she feels the towel in her hand and brings it into the shower. She smiles at how pink it is.

"You're welcome."

Quinn stops her movements. She calms down her erratically beating heart and turns off the shower before pulling open the curtain, not caring that she is very naked and very wet.

She cocks her head to the side when her eyes land on a beautiful, petite brunette woman standing before her with a very annoyed expression on her face. All Quinn can think though, is how cute this woman looks, trying to be intimidating.

"Who are you?"

* * *

**Present day.**

Quinn gazes at Rachel waiting for her response. The whole time Quinn has been telling Rachel everything, Rachel has stayed very quiet, gasping at appropriate times and growling at other times. Their now cold, hot chocolates lay forgotten on the coffee table, both having become so engrossed in the story.

When Quinn began to choke up, Rachel had simply grabbed hold of Quinn's hand and quietly comforted her, patiently waiting for Quinn to continue. Her gaze never faltered from Quinn's and so, in turn, Quinn saw every emotion Rachel was feeling as she re-told her story. Anger, confusion, pain, sadness, jealousy. All of them had passed through Rachel's eyes. Jealousy came of particularly strong when Quinn informed Rachel of Marley.

Rachel shifts closer to Quinn. "Is that everything?"

Quinn shakes her head and takes a deep breath. She goes on to tell Rachel about what happened when she left the apartment. She tells Rachel about Puck and Finn. She tells Rachel about Brittany and how kind she had been to the three of them. She tells Rachel about how she felt during it all, she tells her about everything.

And Rachel? Well, Rachel just listens to her. She listens so much better than Finn's army figurines because she doesn't just sit there, like the figures did. She shows Quinn emotion, she comforts Quinn. She's there for Quinn and she's real.

Rachel gasps when Quinn tells her of Finn leaving, of Puck leaving and of how close she and Rachel had gotten to meeting each other before then. Rachel's eyes well up when Quinn tells her about how she waited for Rachel after every show and how after every show, she chickened out on talking to her.

When Quinn finally finishes, Rachel places her hand on Quinn's cheek and brings the blonde's attention to her.

"Quinn, I promise you that I won't ever, _ever_, hurt you like that. I won't let anyone harm you in that ever again. If he was here now, I swear Quinn; your Father would not live to see another day."

Quinn's heart warms at Rachel's words and she lets out a watery laugh. Her eyes turn serious and she grasps hold of Rachel's hand on her shoulder.

"Promise me that you won't ever leave me? I can't have you leave me after having Puck and Finn leave, I can't."

Rachel wipes away Quinn's tears and softly smiles at her with her own watery smile. "I won't ever leave you, Quinn." Rachel moves closer to Quinn, her hands moving to wrap around Quinn's neck. She puts their foreheads together and closes her eyes.

"I lost you once, I'm not going to lose you again." Rachel whispers.

The girls sit close together, the space around them secretive and intimate. Their foreheads do not part, their eyes stay closed and they just breathe in each other's closeness.

For the first time in years, Quinn finally feels at home.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading the chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading it.**

**Let me know what you think!**

**Xx**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey guys, I'm sorry for the wait...I don't really have an excuse this time...Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, I really appreciate every review that is sent in. I'm probably going to start replying to them now, answering any questions you guys may have etc.**

**Enjoy!**

_"Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life." - Omar Khayyam_

* * *

It's been a few days since Quinn told all to Rachel and a few things have changed. First: Rachel's become very shy around Quinn. The taller woman has noticed the shy, unsure stares Rachel's been sending her when she thinks Quinn isn't looking. She's been noticing how every time Quinn speaks to Rachel, Rachel's eyes will lower and blush. Second: Quinn has not seen Sam since. Whether it's because he's busy with work or because Rachel had said something to him, Quinn is not sure. What she is sure about is that she's happy he hasn't been round. She get's all of Rachel's attention and, well, for someone who's had barely any attention paid to her in a while, Quinn loves it.

Quinn undoes her apron as she finishes up her very long shift and waves goodbye to Paul. A bright smile pulls up on Quinn's face as she thinks about what is waiting for her at home.

Home.

It's been a long time since Quinn's had a home. She's lived in a house, but not a home. No, that stopped being a home after Russell threw the first hit. It's nice to know she now has a home and that someone is waiting.

That someone being Rachel.

They have yet to kiss. But Quinn is hoping that will change when she gets back, providing that her plan works.

When she finally gets back, Quinn is greeted by the sound of Rachel singing. Quinn quickly hangs up her coat and follows her voice into the kitchen. She grins when she spots Rachel at the sink, scrubbing at the plates and dancing along with the song she's singing. It mesmerizes Quinn how amazing Rachel's voice is. It's a shame that she's not going to be able to show off her voice in her Television project.

"We have a dishwasher." Quinn finally says.

Rachel jumps, dropping the plate into the sink and sending suds flying onto her face. A grin that matches Quinn's flashes onto her face. "Quinn." She breathes out, her eyes dropping down to Quinn's mouth before she blushes then turns away. "I didn't know you would be back so early."

Quinn looks at the clock hanging on the wall and frowns slightly. "This is the time I normally get back." She says, stepping close to Rachel.

Rachel coughs. "Yes, well it seems earlier I guess..." She trails off, the blush on her cheeks deepening.

Quinn places a hand on Rachel's cheek, drawing the woman's attention up to her. Rachel's eyes widen slightly at how close Quinn is to her.

"W-what are you doing?" Rachel asks, her voice dropping to a whisper. Her head begins to move in closer to Quinn's.

"Trying something out." Quinn whispers back.

With a slight tilt of her chin, Quinn connects hers and Rachel's lips. It starts off as a gentle touch of the lips, both woman slightly hesitant in the first touches. But when Quinn lightly licks her own lips and tastes Rachel's lip balm, a switch inside of her flips.

Quinn presses her lips against Rachel's with a new found vigour. Now that she's tasted Rachel's lips, she's eager for more. From the moan that sounds from Rachel, Quinn can conclude that Rachel feels the same.

Soapy, wet hands circle Quinn's neck, pulling her in closer to Rachel. Quinn moans at the feeling of Rachel's tongue running across her bottom lip and happily opens her mouth to allow access. When their tongues touch, both of them moan into the other. Quinn's hand drops from Rachel's cheek to her hip and she pulls their hips together whilst backing Rachel into the counter. As soon as Rachel's back hits the counter, Quinn grabs hold of her legs and hoists her up onto the surface, her hands coming to rest either side of Rachel's legs.

Quinn very reluctantly, pulls away from Rachel's lips and rests their foreheads together. Neither speak for while, both of them just breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath.

"That was..."

"Yeah." Quinn licks her lips, her hands moving to lightly touch Rachel's legs. She clears her throat and look into Rachel's eyes. "Rachel, would you like to go on a date with me? Please?"

A soft smile graces Rachel's face as she watches Quinn adoringly. Her hands move to lock around Quinn's neck. "I would be delighted."

* * *

Quinn brushes her hand through her hair one more time. She blows at a shaky breath as she looks over herself in the mirror one more time. She hasn't been on a date before and she's incredibly nervous. Hopefully Rachel will enjoy what Quinn has planned out for the two of them.

Looking over her jean covered legs and blue button up shirt, Quinn nods to her reflection and walks out of her room. She grabs the flowers that she brought earlier off the counter top and runs a hand through her hair one more time.

With timid steps, Quinn walks up to Rachel's door and lightly knocks three times. She shuffles side to side, blowing some hair out of her face as she waits for Rachel to open up the door. The flowers held in her hands slowly drop down when the door opens.

Before her, Rachel stands in a pair of tight black skinny jeans paired with a red blouse with the top two buttons left open, giving Quinn a nice view of Rachel's cleavage. Her eyes are surrounded by smoky eye shadow, causing the brown in her iris's to sparkle brightly at Quinn. Her hair flows in soft waves to her shoulders. She looks perfect.

"You're stunning." Quinn says, looking over Rachel once more.

Rachel blushes. "I hardly compare to you." She says shyly, walking out of her room.

"Don't do that." Quinn says softly.

"Do what?"

"Put yourself down. You are beautiful, Rachel and I'm going to make it my mission to have you believe it." Quinn raises the flowers in her hands and holds them out to Rachel. "These are for you,I heard you like Lillies." Quinn says, a blush forming on her cheeks from the bright smile Rachel flashes at her.

Rachel carefully takes the flowers from Quinn's hands and moves to put them into a vase. "I do. How did you find out?"

Quinn grins slyly and patiently waits for Rachel to finish sorting out the flowers. "One of my many birds told me."

Rachel chuckles and grabs her purse, walking over to Quinn who's holding out her coat to her. "Your birds?"

Quinn helps Rachel into her coat before grabbing her own. "Yes, my birds." She replies. She opens the apartment door and gestures for Rachel to walk through before following her out.

As soon as Quinn is stood beside Rachel, Rachel links their arms and they walk towards the elevators, excitement ringing inside both of them.

"Who might these birds be?" Rachel asks as they step into the elevator.

"That's for me to know and for you to never find out."

* * *

Rachel's eyes widen as she stares up at the giant Christmas tree sparkling brightly in the darkness of New York. Quinn watches her with amusement as the girl finally looks away from the Christmas Tree and to the ice rink filled with couples, families and children skating around, laughter filling the area.

"I can't Ice Skate." Rachel squeaks out.

Quinn grins and shrugs her shoulders. "Neither can I, it will be fun!" Quinn says, grabbing hold of Rachel's hand and dragging her over to the cashier. Quinn quickly hands over the money and grabs the two pairs of ice skates.

"Quinn, you don't understand, I'm like Bambi on when he first tried to stand." Rachel says as Quinn directs them to a nearby bench and begins to put on her ice skates.

The blonde pauses in her movements and slowly looks up at Rachel. A grin pulls up onto her face. "All the more reason for you to be close to me." Quinn says, chuckling softly when Rachel's eyes lighten up and she begins to place her ice skates on.

Quinn stands up and patiently waits for Rachel to finish. She laughs as she watches Rachel attempt to walk to the gate in the ice skates. She looks like the cat wearing kitten mittens in _It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia_.

"Don't laugh at me." Rachel says with a pout when they reach the gate.

Quinn doesn't say anything and instead skates out onto the ice. She hears a gasp behind her and slowly turns around, seeing Rachel still standing at the gate, looking very put out and annoyed.

"You told me you couldn't skate!" Rachel says, folding her hands across her chest.

"I did?" Quinn says with an innocent grin. "Come on, I can teach you." Quinn says, skating to the gate and holding out her hand.

Rachel shakes her head. "No, I'm going to fall and then someone will skate over my hands and I'll lose my fingers and I won't be able to continue my career and instead become a fingerless old woman with 300 cats."

"I promise you, that won't happen. Look around you, Rach. Children are having fun and falling over. If they can do it, so can you."

Quinn takes Rachel's hand and gently clasps it into her own. She gently tugs Rachel forward so she's standing on the ice. Rachel squeaks and slides into Quinn.

"Rachel, just hold onto me, okay? If you fall, I will catch you, I will always catch you."

Without having time to blink, Quinn feels Rachel's lips press against her own. She closes her eyes and allows Rachel to deepen the kiss for a while before pulling back. "Why did you do that?" Quinn asks.

Rachel grins and turns to look at the ice underneath her feet. "Just felt like it."

Quinn clears her throat and nods. "Shall we get on with the skating, then?"

It was a fun hour for the two girl's. Whilst Quinn obviously had practice when it came to ice skating and Rachel had no experience what so ever, they both still fell over at some point. In Quinn's defence, she only fell over because when Rachel would start to fall, she'd reach out for Quinn and drag her down with her. At one point, Quinn decided to show off and to Rachel's disappointed, she skated off without Rachel, doing a few spins and jumps around the arena.

When she finally joined Rachel, she had to listen to Rachel go on and on about how she could have fallen over without Quinn and died during that time. Quinn had simply kissed Rachel on the cheek and told her she was cute before grabbing hold of her hand and slowly guiding Rachel round the rink as the smaller woman held onto the side.

Now, Quinn is trying to coax Rachel away from the ledge.

"No." Rachel says once again like a petulant child.

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Come on Rach, just push off from the edge a little bit."

"I am perfectly fine here thank you very much."

"I thought Rachel Berry was a woman who was always in on the action, not someone who simply watched from the sidelines."

"Don't try and use that analogy on me Quinn Fabray! I know your game here." Rachel huffs and holds onto the side for dear life. Quinn had skated away to a distance where if Rachel wanted to hold her hand, she'd have to push away from the ledge.

"You are able to perform on stage to hundreds of people each night, but yet you can't find the courage to push away from the ledge? Rachel, these kids are literally skating circles around you."

As Quinn said this, a young girl comes skating over to the two of them and does a little spin before skating away. Rachel watches the little girl go with a frown.

With a loud sigh, Rachel pushes herself off of the ledge and moves one foot forward, sliding across the ice to Quinn. Just as she gets to Quinn, she trips a little and tumbles into the taller woman who instantly wraps her arms around Rachel and steadies the two of them.

"I did it!" Rachel says, her hands resting on Quinn's chest.

"Yes you did."

"I told you I could!"

Quinn rolls her eyes and moves her hand to grab hold of Rachel's. "Of course. Now, all you have to do is hold onto me and don't let go."

* * *

Rachel skips ahead of Quinn, singing as loud as she can into the night sky. Quinn quietly follows her, watching the other woman with a smile. Quinn ignores the feeling of vegan ice cream dripping down onto her hand as she watches Rachel laugh and have fun.

Rachel abruptly turns around and begins to sing towards Quinn, a big, bright smile on her face. She uses her ice cream as a microphone.

"_Got my dreams, got my life, got my love_." She sings. She sways side to side, slowly approaching Quinn with a grin. "_Got my friends, got the sunshine above_."

Quinn looks up at the dark sky. She smiles and raises an eyebrow, stopping in her walk when Rachel stands right in front of her. Rachel dots a bit of ice cream onto Quinn's nose, laughing to herself at the sight of Quinn.

"_Why am I making this hard on myself,_" She sings through her giggles as Quinn wipes off the ice cream and takes a lick at her own cone. "_When there's so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy_." Rachel only goes and splodges a bit more on Quinn's nose, causing the blonde to scrunch her nose up.

Quinn ignores the ice cream on her nose. "So, you're happy?"

Rachel nods. "Very." She says before moving forward and licking the ice cream off Quinn's nose.

When she moves back, her eyes are almost black as she stares at Quinn. Quinn watches Rachel's tongue poke out of her mouth and run along her bottom lip. The brunette smirks up at Quinn as she watches Quinn's pupils dilate and her golden iris's become a deep green.

Quinn's hand moves up to cup Rachel's cheek, mirroring their first kiss in the kitchen this afternoon. Slowly, Quinn brings their lips together.

As the two kiss in the middle of the street, they forget about the world around them. Neither of them thought a single kiss could make them feel like the only two people in the world. Arms encircle each other, pulling them together as close as they can as they both lose themselves in the kiss. Tongues meet tongues, moans are released and the world fades away. Right now it's only the two of them and no one else. Both feel safe, loved and wanted.

The ice creams in their hands drop to the sidewalk, forgotten with the rest of the city.

* * *

Giggles erupt the apartment as the woman stumble in, both too busy putting their efforts into a very heated kiss to care about the noise they are making.

Quinn shuts the door with her foot before backing Rachel into the wall opposite. Rachel giggles when she feels her back hit the wall and wraps her arms around Quinn's neck, pulling her in closer.

Hands begin to wonder underneath Rachel's shirt, lightly grazing the soft skin found under the material. Rachel shivers at Quinn's touch, causing Quinn to smirk against Rachel's lips.

"Do you think we're going to fast?" Quinn asks as she begins to direct her attention to Rachel's neck.

Rachel's eyes to the back of her head as Quinn sucks on a sensitive spot. "Nuh uh." She manages to say between her moans.

Quinn's hands move out from Rachel's shirt and to her legs, lifting the brunette up so her legs wrap around Quinn's waist. "We're currently still on our first date." Quinn says against Rachel's skin. She doesn't know why she's saying all of this, it's not like she actually wants to stop this.

Rachel tightened her legs around Quinn's waist and grasps at Quinn's shoulder blades at Quinn continues to attack her neck with bites and kisses. She's sure she's going to have some bruises there in the morning, but she's too turned on to care.

"So?" Rachel breathes out, only just registering that Quinn had spoken. "I've waited two years for this."

At her words, Quinn pulls back from her neck, causing Rachel to groan in frustration. Brittany had told her about Rachel's feelings, but she's never heard them from Rachel. It's different when it comes from the direct source.

"What?" Quinn asks, not quite believing her ears. Did Brittany tell her the truth?

Something inside Rachel flips and gone is the turned on, frustrated brunette from five seconds ago and instead, a nervous and vulnerable woman is being shown. Quinn gently lowers Rachel to the ground, her hands coming to rest on Rachel's hips.

Rachel licks her lips and looks down at her feet. "Quinn, I-"

Rachel is cut off by the sound of their doorbell ringing. This time, it's Quinn who groans in frustration. She almost heard them, the three little words that she's been dying to hear come from Rachel.

"I should probably-"

"Ignore it." Quinn says. Her desperation is over taking her. She needs to hear Rachel say them, it feels like her body will shut down if Rachel doesn't say them.

"Quinn-"

Rachel is once again cut off by the doorbell, but this time it just continues ringing, the sound blocking out any thoughts running through Quinn's head and over powering Rachel's voice.

Growling in frustration, Quinn pulls open the door and barks out, "What?"

A very pleased looking Emma stands on the other side, her body angled so she's blocking the rest of the hallway. Emma's eyes look over Quinn's shoulder to Rachel, who is now matching the same glare as Quinn.

Emma chuckles. "You won't be glaring for much longer. I've brought a present for you." She says, her eyes focused on Quinn.

"I'm not interested in any-"

"I didn't say it was for you." Emma says, cutting off Rachel without moving her eyes from Quinn. "This present is for Quinn."

"Me?"

Emma nods and gestures behind herself with her hand. Slowly, a very familiar figure moves to the side of Emma. Quinn immediately recognises the long brunette locks, the bright blue eyes and the timid smile. Rachel has no idea who this is and looks at Quinn in confusement.

"Marley?"

As soon as her name leaves Quinn's lips, Marley jumps forward and wraps her arms around Quinn, tears streaming down her face.

Rachel looks over to Emma who just shrugs and smiles at the scene in front of her. Rachel looks up at Quinn and sees the blonde is stood in absolute shock, her own silent tears falling down her face as she holds the crying woman.

"You're alive." Marley whispers against Quinn's neck.

Quinn gulps and tightens her hold on Marley. She closes her eyes and just holds the girl she had worried about for so long, whether Russell had done anything to her. With her holding someone from her past, someone very familiar, someone who seemed to care for Quinn in some way, causes something to happen inside of Quinn.

She cracks.

* * *

**There's the chapter guys! I hope you liked it. I apologize if any of you do not like the way it played out, i.e no smut or love confessions happening. I promise, I do have those times planned out, but other things will come before then. Hopefully, you won't have to wait too long for the good parts!**

**Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read!**

**xxx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you all for being so patient with me. I'm so sorry that it's taken me a while to update...I've been distracted with...things.**

**Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter, I appreciated all of them.**

**I hope you enjoy this one!**

* * *

She's never felt fear like this before. She's never seen such anger placed in one single man. The very sight of this anger sends shivers through her body, straight to her core. The most scared Marley has ever been was her first day at McKinley.

the fear she felt then doesn't even come close to the terror bubbling inside. of her. not only does she feel fear for her own life, she also fears for Quinn's.

one minute she had Quinn's warm and sexy body pressed against her and the next, she was cold and staring into the eyes of a very, very angry Russell Fabray. Never in her life has Marley seen a Father look at his daughter with such hatred and disgust. it froze her in her spot.

it was only when she noticed the pained and pleading hazel eyes staring back unprocessed Marley finally move.

and so she ran. as fast as her legs could make her and as far as her body would direct her. through her blinding tears and fear, Marley did not realise she has arrived at home. it was only until she felt her mother's arms wrap around her, keeping her from falling to the ground did she finally realise.

when it finally hit her, what she had witnessed and what was obviously happening to Quinn, Marley broke down.

she cried out in pain and anguish, almost feeling every blow Russell was obviously giving Quinn as if she were the one to be hit. as if she was on the receiving end. Not only did she cry out her own pain, she cried for Quinn, her sobs seemingly in sync with every blow struck to Quinn's body.

Marley cried for all the years Quinn must have suffered. all the years Quinn must have gone through without any help, without anyone outside her home noticing her pain, her suffering.

How Quinn was able to walk the halls of McKinley with a stride in her step and a smile on her face after suffering what she does, Marley will never know. But what Marley does know, is that Quinn needs someone to protect her. To save her. And she prays to God that Quinn finds that person.

Everyone needs to be protected.

Especially Quinn Fabray.

* * *

Months pass and not one person has seen or heard of Quinn Fabray. Yet, the school carries on as normal. No one asks questions, no one seems to be worried for Quinn. Except Marley.

She's tried going to the police, but they only laughed, not believing a single word coming out of her mouth. She was, after all, talking about their Governor. Of course no one would believe her.

Marley had grown hysterical. No one would listen to her. She's been sent to many psychiatrists, all of whom had given Marley bottles of calming pills. None of them work. Marley had tried going to the Fabray home many of times. Each time she has gone, no one has answered. She knew people were in, the lights were on and there was always a car in the driveway.

But yet, Marley would always be left standing outside, ringing the doorbell over and over again for two hours without an answer. Eventually, she'd give up and go home, only to break down in her room.

Until, one day, after two years of knocking on an unanswered door and many psychiatrists. The day after her graduation, the door finally opened.

* * *

Marley stares at the bruised and beaten face staring back at her. The resemblance of mother and daughter is uncanny. The only difference is the broken blue eyes staring at her instead of broken hazel eyes.

Neither of them moves. Marley's in too much shock at finally being answered to even think about blinking. Mrs Fabray looks like she's in far too much pain to move.

Somehow, they ended up sitting on a bench in a nearby park, their warm breaths swirling with the cold afternoon air. Marley's knee shakes rapidly, her nerves buzzing throughout her body. She keeps on giving Mrs Fabray sideward glances, but can't bring herself to look at the worn out and tired woman.

Finally, after nearly an hour of silence, Mrs Fabray speaks.

"She's gone."

Marley almost doesn't hear the words. Mrs Fabray's voice is incredibly quiet, so quiet that Marley fears that if Mrs Fabray was to speak any lower, her voice would become lost in the wind.

"Where?" Marley is finally able to ask.

"Away from here." Mrs Fabray says, her voice cracking slightly. She sniffs, but ends up grimacing. That small action seemed to cause the older Fabray a lot more pain that it should have. "Far away."

Marley swallows the lump in her throat and turns her attention back to the bleak scenery in front of her. "Where is she now?"

"I don't know."

"How do you not know? She's your daughter."

At Marley's words, Mrs Fabray slowly turns in her throat. When she speaks, her voice is cold.

"I gave my daughter enough money to get to any city away from here. I do not know where she has gone and I will not risk her safety by trying to make contact with her."

Marley blinks, shame flowing through her.

"Marley, I want you to do something for me."

Marley nods. "Sure, anything."

Mrs Fabray shuffles closer to Marley. "Can you find my daughter for me and tell her how much I love her and miss her. Can you find her and tell me how she is. Tell me if she's living okay, if she's found love, if she's found a home."

Marley nods.

"Will you promise me to tell me? Tell me everything."

Swallowing a lump in her throat once more, Marley nods. "I promise."

Marley looks down when she feels something get pressed into her hand. A few hundred dollar bills rest in her palm, crinkled and old.

"Use this."

Without giving Marley any room to argue, Mrs Fabray stands up from the bench and walks away. Marley looks down at her hand, her eyes glossing with tears as she stares at the money given to her by the broken woman.

If there's one thing Marley Rose always does, it's keeping her promise.

Now is not the time for her to break it.

* * *

**Present day**

Quinn's suffering. She's suffering, bad.

This much, Rachel knows. She's been awaken every night since Marley got here by the cries and screams coming from Quinn's room. Quinn has been a walking zombie after not having a goodnight sleep for the past few weeks.

Every night, Rachel rushes to Quinn's door. Every night, she's met by Marley who has rushed from her place on the couch. Every night, Rachel glares at Marley before walking into Quinn's room and wrapping her arms around Quinn in an attempt to calm her down. And every night, it never seems to work. It's only until Marley walks into the room a few moments later and situates herself on the other side of Quinn, does Quinn finally calm down.

Every night it's like this. Ever since Marley arrived.

Rachel is sure that Quinn's nightmares were caused by Marley's appearance. Quinn's distress and pain is because of Marley.

And because of this, Rachel does not like Marley.

It does not help that it's only until Marley joins them that Quinn stops crying in pain. Rachel does not hate Marley for this. She hates herself. She hates that she can't single-handily calm Quinn down. She hates that she can't protect Quinn from her pain. She hates that she is not enough for Quinn.

It's painful for Rachel. It's painful to see the love of her life suffering so much and there's nothing she can do about it. Rachel knows it's not easy on Quinn. In fact, it's terrible for Quinn. The blonde doesn't eat properly; she hardly speaks and only ever leaves the apartment for work.

It's like Quinn's nightmares suck the life out of her.

It feels like to Rachel that she is seeing who Quinn was before she met her. Rachel knows that she is seeing the eighteen year old, homeless and broken Quinn. This is not the Quinn she is used to knowing.

No.

This is someone completely different.

And it breaks Rachel's heart.

She knows it pains Marley too. She can see it on the girl's face when they rush to Quinn's door each night. It's the same look Rachel sees on her won face when she looks in the mirror. The only difference between the two is that Rachel has a matching broken heart, she feels pain for her love whereas Marley's shows pain for a friend, for someone she has been missing for years, for someone she deeply cares about.

The fact that Marley's feelings are only deep friendship towards Quinn makes Rachel dislike her a little less.

Marley told this herself.

It was after the first night of Quinn's cries that Marley spoke to Rachel.

* * *

"_I know what you're thinking." Marley had said as she approached Rachel._

"_Oh? And what is that?" Rachel asked with a hint of venom in her voice._

"_You think I'm here to get Quinn." Marley said, crossing her arms over her chest._

"_Do you?"_

_Marley nodded. "I can assure you that I am not."_

_Rachel's hands wrapped around her coffee mug and she slowly took a slip, eyeing the girl stood in front of her. "How can I believe you? Quinn told me everything that happened between you."_

_Marley sighed and moved around the kitchen island to sit beside Rachel. "Exactly. You know that nothing happened. You know that I physically saw how horrible Russell was."_

_Rachel narrowed her eyes and placed her coffee cup down. "I wouldn't say nothing happened."_

_The taller brunette smiled gently. "I get it, okay? Quinn and I have history together – albeit a very bad history- but history nonetheless. You're threatened by that. But you should be glad that you don't have any history with her. It was horrible. I wish I didn't have history with her. Not like that, anyway."_

_Rachel pursed her lips. "Your point?"_

_Marley sighed in aggravation. She stood up and threw her hands in the air. "You may not have history with Quinn, but you get to have a future with her. You get to create your very own. Quinn will be able to look at you and smile at the history you two will soon have. She'll get to be happy about it."_

_Rachel watched as Marley's shoulders fell. The taller woman let out a defeated sigh and slumped against the kitchen counter, her eyes falling to the ground. Marley shook her head and slowly lifted her eyes to meet Rachel's. She looked at Rachel with pain. Pain similar to what Rachel felt, with only a slight difference._

"_When Quinn looks at me, she doesn't see a happy history. She sees what happened to her. She sees what her life used to be. I remind Quinn of the crap she's been through. It hurts. It hurts to have her look at me like that."_

_Marley pushed off the wall and walked over to Rachel, stopping just to the side of her. Rachel looked up at Marley, patiently waiting for the other woman to continue._

"_You and Quinn aren't the only ones in pain, Rachel. It's horrible knowing that you're the cause for your friend's pain."_

_Rachel's eyebrow rose, her lip twitching slightly._

"_That's all I see Quinn as. A friend. She loves you way too much for her to even consider me. I can see you love her as well. I would be a fool to get between that."_

_With that, Marley turned away from Rachel and walked away, leaving the sitting brunette alone with her thoughts._

* * *

Rachel stands beside Santana in the kitchen, Brittany sat on a nearby stool, as they watch Jess and Quinn interact. Rachel can see that Quinn is really trying to seem up beat today with the little girl, but she knows that Quinn doesn't have the energy.

"You don't have to look after her today, Rach." Brittany says around a mouthful of cookie. Rachel had baked a batch earlier, in preparation of Jess coming round and Brittany had immediately zoned in on them.

"No, no, it's okay. You and Santana haven't had a day out together in so long." Rachel says her eyes still on Quinn and Jess.

"Berry, it's obvious that Q over there is struggling. It's fine for us to reschedule."

Rachel's eyes move to her best friend beside her. She gives the Latina a sad smile. "I was planning on taking Jess to the park today to give Quinn some time to rest."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if Quinn has a night terror?"

"Wouldn't it technically be called a day terror seeing as Quinn wouldn't be sleeping at night?" Brittany asks, popping the last piece of cookie into her mouth and immediately reaching for another.

Rachel smiles softly at her bubbly friend. "I guess it is B." She turns her attention back to the pair sat on the settee. "She won't be alone. Marley is here."

"How's it going with her?" Santana asks before quickly reaching out and grabbing Brittany's hand, stopping her from getting another cookie. She's eaten nearly half of them in the span of five minutes.

Rachel shrugs. "Fine. She kind of keeps to herself a lot. I know she's been giving Quinn some space so they haven't really chatted that much since Emma brought her here."

Brittany manages to free her hand from Santana's and picks up the glass of milk she had grabbed earlier, taking a long sip to moisten her dry mouth. "Why is she giving Quinn space? Surely it's good that she's here? You know, so Quinn has someone familiar with her?"

"Marley seems to think that she is the cause of Quinn's screaming." Rachel says a hint of hatred in her voice.

Santana picks up on this and raises an eyebrow at her friend. "As do you."

"What?"

"You believe that this is happening because of Marley." Santana says, her tone of voice telling Rachel that she's stating a fact, not asking a question.

Rachel keeps her attention focused on the blonde and little girl in front of them. Jess is currently holding Quinn's scarred hand in her own, drawing with a pink marker onto her skin.

"Shouldn't you two be off on your date?" Rachel asks, ignoring Santana's question. "Didn't you say you were going to take Brittany to the zoo?"

Brittany drops her cookies after hearing the word zoo. "You were?" She asks after quickly swallowing the bite of cookie she had in her mouth.

Santana glares at Rachel and sighs as Brittany jumps out of her seat. "Yeah, B."

Brittany grabs hold of Santana's hand and begins to drag her out of the apartment. "Bye Jess, love you!" Brittany calls out to her daughter.

Santana gives Rachel a look that tells her she hasn't gotten away with avoiding the subject before happily following her wife out the door, shouting a goodbye to Jess.

Quinn wonders into the kitchen a while later whilst Rachel is washing up, a small grin on her tired face. "Hey, check this out." Quinn says, presenting her scarred hand to Rachel.

In pink marker, little scribbles of butterflies, stars and flowers surround Quinn's scar in a circle. A smile tugs up onto Rachel's face as she looks at Jess' drawings.

"Jess said it was to make the scar beautiful and happy." Quinn whispers.

Rachel removes her hands from the soapy water and dries her hands on a nearby tea towel. She grabs hold of Quinn's hand and runs a finger over the raised, scarred skin. She gives Quinn a smile and holds Quinn's hand in both of hers.

"It was already beautiful." Rachel says her voice soft and caring.

Quinn blushes and looks away. "What are we going to be doing with Jess today?"

Rachel intertwines hers and Quinn's fingers and steps closer to her. "I am going to take Jess out to the park, you are going to go back to bed and get some sleep."

"I can't leave you to entertain Jess by yourself."

"I did it before, I can do it again." Rachel says with a smile. "Now go and sleep." She turns Quinn around and lightly pushes her towards Quinn's room.

"But-"

"No buts, go." Rachel gives Quinn a playful little shove, chuckling when Quinn stumbles a little and pouts over at her. She watches as Quinn slowly makes her way into the bedroom before turning her attention to Jess.

"Come on, Kid, we're going out." Rachel says, walking into the living and grabbing Jess's coat.

Jess happily jumps up and puts on her coat. "Is Quinn coming?"

Rachel grabs Jess's hand and heads towards the door, picking up her keys along the way. She looks back at Quinn's door, listening to the soft snores sounding from the room.

"No, Kiddo. Quinn is finally sleeping."

* * *

**There you have it!**

**Thank you for reading.**

**xx**


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